Review of The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) by Frank R — 22 Feb 2015

This may be Wes Anderson's best movie yet. And that's saying a lot considering I've never shied away from expressing my opinion of Wes Anderson. I believe he is one of the most overrated writer/directors in modern cinema. I generally find his overly deliberate style of scripting, directing and cinematography to be taxing on me as movie-goer and visually exhausting as a photographer (every shot is just so damn deliberate!). I know this isn't a popular opinion, but I'm confident history will bear me out as being more right than wrong.

Proof that Wes had created something special in "The Grand Budapest Hotel" is how immensely I enjoyed this movie and simply didn't stop watching it mid-way through like I have a number of Wes' other films.

("The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou"...really?).

"The Grand Budapest Hotel" may not be grand. Surely the performances are whimsical, the comedic timing impeccable and the cinematography captures an almost magical world but none of it in the realm of Oscar-winning accomplishments. Fortunately, and quite contrary to "The Theory of Everything", Wes' latest offering is truly greater than the sum of its parts and that it entertained, delighted and even surprised me is in itself a grand accomplishment.