Review of The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) by Apotheosis34 — 20 Apr 2014

Wes Anderson's film is decently paced, written moderately well, and contains a bevy of talented actors who all conspire to do their part, but falls just short of consistently capturing attention and drawing laughs with its comedic intention. It's just too eccentric for its own good. Far too many times were the laughs forced, as if the few members of the audience were laughing out of a desire to show themselves they "got the joke".

By no means was it a bad film, however. The filming style was fairly straightforward but well done. Shots were pleasingly spaced and different ratios chosen for different time periods, effectively separating the periods without any intrusion or confusion for the audience. The set design and chosen locations fit the tone and general "feel" of the plot. The actors played each character off of one another to create some creatively comedic moments as well as others filled with tension. With a few exceptions - Edward Norton's peculiar character - the dialogue was performed well; Ralph Fiennes in particular did a wonderful job.

Despite these positives, the unneccsariy eccentricity of the film combined with its wholly uninteresting plot made the film rather tedious to sit through. Although it was, perhaps, not technically a comedy, The Grand Budapest Hotel certainly tried to appear like one but did little to capitalize on the actors it was given. The comedy fell short of being funny in nearly all cases, save for a few here and there. The moments were obvious and some juvenile in their humor.

The film did have a novel or bookish feel to it - its plot seemed better suited to a written medium, but it was effectively conveyed on film.

Though it did succeed in some areas, The Grand Budapest Hotel failed to consistently produce an interesting narrative and tried to hard to be a comedy combined with an odd plot. It was an above average film, but only just so, and with a veteran director in Wes Anderson with a talented cast in did not rise to the occasion and meet expectations.