
Wes Anderson may have just made his most Wes Anderson film ever with the release of Asteroid City.
It is a somewhat uncanny coincidence that the director is currently the internet’s favourite due to TikTok trends and people creating wholly AI-generated trailers for films such as Star Wars in his style.
Within the first two minutes of the film, audiences are subjected to one of Anderson’s favoured tropes: the inventory of obscure items required to complete a task.
Jeff Goldblum portrays an alien, of course.
Tom Hanks makes his Anderson debut alongside Steve Carell (delightful), Bryan Cranston, Margot Robbie, Maya Hawke, and Liev Schreiber. Hanks enthusiastically embraces the director’s stylized cinematography with a slightly stilted and rigid delivery when appropriate.
It’s an embarrassment of resources when it comes to acting talent, but unfortunately several of those stars don’t get much screen time, as the story focuses primarily on Schwartzman and Johansson as recent widower Augie Steenbeck and Bette Davis-type actress Midge Campbell, respectively.

They meet at the Junior Stargazer convention, where soldiers like Jeffrey Wright and his impressive mile-per-minute delivery, scientists, and parents have gathered to discover the remarkable inventions of gifted students, including Augie’s son (Jake Ryan, a fan-favorite young actor of Anderson’s) who is one of them.
Along for the journey is Augie’s father-in-law, Hanks, who has a particularly endearing relationship with his three young granddaughters.
When the desert town (population 87) hosting the convention is abruptly visited by a very sweet stop-motion alien, who nicks their asteroid and vanishes (the last we see of both Jeff Goldblum and any extraterrestrial action, unfortunately), the government orders a quarantine.

That seems familiar…
The issue with Asteroid City, however amusing and adorable it is at times, is that it has a bit too much style over substance and is difficult to penetrate as an audience member.
There is a play-within-a-film concept in which everyone is actually an actor playing a role, but it’s oddly handled and goes off on quite random tangents with inadequately interwoven themes, all of which are presented by the Host (Bryan Cranston, who at least is having fun).
The retro 1950s setting of Asteroid City is a natural match for Anderson’s signature pastel colour pallet, and Alexandre Desplat has composed the score as usual.
However, there is not as much of a thrilling caper as in his finest works, such as The Grand Budapest Hotel.
This alien encounter film will likely alienate the majority of viewers who aren’t Wes Anderson diehards.
Asteroid City will be released in UK cinemas on June 23.