Review of The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (2021) by Gomesx — 11 Jan 2022

Sit back and have fun.

Wes Anderson's latest film, under thinly disguised names, assumes that Harold Ross, instead of going to Manhattan to found THE NEW YORKER, moved to France. There, with the same writers and cartoonists, he published essentially the same magazine, but with, understandably, more emphasis on France than on Broadway. We are then graced with Bill Murray as the editor who deals with his writers, while Tilda Swinton narrates her story about mad prisoner Benicio Del Toro inventing a new movement in art; Frances MacDormand covering a student uprising as she lay with leader Timothée Chalamet, while editing and writing an appendix to her revolutionary manifesto; and Jeffrey Wright covering the "Cooking Cop" news with the Commissioner, which escalates into a violent chase when the Commissioner's son is kidnapped and his chef must take the lead in the recovery.

I'm a huge fan of Anderson's highly detailed cinematic worlds, in large part because he's constantly winking at the audience, letting them know they're in on the joke, as he manipulates proportions, colors, timelines, and moves walls in plain sight. everyone, Your actors seem to have fun. This is Bill Murray's ninth appearance in an Anderson film, and Owen Wilson's eighth. Other highly regarded artists include Lea Sedoux, Mathieu Amalric, Bob Balaban, Henry Winkler, Christopher Waltz, Willem Dafoe and a dozen others. Nor do they come to the big parties; they seem happy to show up. Maybe I lack depth to understand some things, but I think Anderson tells his stories and wants us to have fun. Does that make it great art? Maybe not. Sometimes, just smile.