While I mostly enjoy the movies of Wes Anderson, I’ve also found him to be a hit or miss director, and I fully understand how some folks can be put off by the quirky and sometimes erratic nature of his storytelling. I loved RUSHMORE, THE DARJEELING LIMITED, and THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL, but didn’t quite enjoy THE ROYAL TENANBAUMS, and I really didn’t care for THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU (despite adoring Bill Murray) and MOONRISE KINGDOM, though I realize those last two have their fans. Some of his films like FANTASTIC MR. FOX and ISLE OF DOGS took me multiple viewings to fully appreciate, and THE FRENCH DISPATCH is one I only liked certain aspects of. I missed ASTEROID CITY entirely so I can’t comment on that. Sadly, his newest effort, THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME, very likely won’t be high on my list for Anderson, despite the impressive cast and stylish storytelling.

Benicio Del Toro plays Zsa-zsa Korda, a successful man who is the subject of multiple assassination attempts, all of which (so far) he has miraculously survived. Due to his potential doom, Korda has decided to appoint his only daughter, a nun named Liesl (Mia Threapleton, who is actually Kate Winslet’s daughter in real life), as the sole heir to his estate. While she struggles with the idea of this, Liesl and Korda find themselves dealing with tycoons with nefarious motives, spies, and even foreign terrorists… and yes, more assassination attempts. Along for the ride is a tutor named Bjorn (Michael Cera) hired by Korda for his many sons, though even he turns out to be a government spy.

THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME has one really strong thing going for it, and that is the endearing lead performance by Benicio Del Toro, who is almost always entertaining and engaging in whatever film he’s in. His portrayal of Korda is fun to watch, but the script makes it hard to enjoy the ride, and the pacing is a mix of very slow talky moments, and suddenly fast-paced humor that ends more abruptly than it should. This is a movie where the de-facto star is really good, but the movie itself is just odd and disconnected. Mia Threapleton is given a lot of dialogue and screen time as Liesl, and while her performance is competent and professional, the character just isn’t very interesting, and when the narrative shifts the focus on her, the film seems to drag more than one might expect. Michael Cera is mildly amusing as Bjorn, but is one of many characters that suffers from a lack of any solid development. Where the film is really frustrating is in the inclusion of many beloved and recognizable faces who are unfortunately given little to do. Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston show up as rival tycoons who compete with Korda, but other than a short scene of playful basketball, they feel pretty wasted here and get very little meaningful dialogue. Same with Scarlet Johansson, Riz Ahmed, and most disappointingly Bill Murray, who has a glorified cameo that is GREAT, but just feels ultimately like another wasted talent here. Folks like Willem Dafoe and F. Murray Abraham are seen for seconds and then gone, which ends up being more distracting than impressive – why get these great folks to be in the movie if they’re basically background extras? Seems wasteful. Richard Ayoade is one bright spot here playing a sort of activist terrorist who gets some memorable moments, and even shows up later to help our protagonists.

The film is of course beautifully shot and smartly edited as most Wes Anderson movies are, but it left me feeling very cold and disconnected with the material when it was all said and done. I hate to admit it, but the first half of the film almost had me falling asleep several times, and that’s not normal for me when viewing Anderson’s work. This is one of the messier and less effective movies in his library, and not one I’m anxious to revisit for any reason other than to see if it plays differently when knowing the outcome. It even feels longer than its modest one hour and 41-minute run time, at times way longer.  With such a great cast and interesting premise, I was surprised this didn’t land for me, but your mileage may vary. I did notice Jason Schwartzman was absent for this production, and he’s someone I almost always enjoy seeing in Anderson’s films, so perhaps he’s the good luck charm Wes needs to make an effort to utilize whenever possible.

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