GENRE: Comedy/Drama
RATING: PG-13 for sexual content and smoking
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 34minutes
STARRING: Jared Gilman & Kara Hayward (newcomers)
Bruce Willis (Red, Die Hard), Edward Norton (Fight Club)
DIRECTOR: Wes Anderson (Rushmore, Royal Tenenbaums)
WRITERS: Wes Anderson (Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Life Aquatic)
Roman Coppola (The Darjeeling Limited)
PLOT: Two very young lovers run away from home together which causes a local search party to look for them.
FIVE OBSERVATIONS:
1 I think the best word to describe this film is ‘charming’. So damn charming. You can’t help watching this film and get a big grin on your face. Most of that is owed to newcomers Gilman and Hayward as the two kids in love. They play it so straight with a way-beyond-their-years maturity that I almost found myself giggling quietly throughout the film. Kudos to Anderson and Douglas Aibel, the casting director who found these wonderful young actors.
2 Wes Anderson films are so well put together and so particular. You get everything you expect from an Anderson film: the inventory checks, the bird’s eye views of items, the quirky music and dialogue, the matter-of-fact tone of almost every character, Bill Murray, beautiful panning shots of house interiors. So if you love Wes Anderson films, this one will not disappoint.
3 It’s always great to see Bill Murray & Jason Schwartzman do their stuff. They both have relatively smaller roles but they milk them for all they are worth. Norton and Willis do admirable job of joining the Anderson family and seem to have fun in their positions as well. I enjoy seeing Norton lightening up after all those recent darker films.
4 I love what Anderson, cinematographer Robert D Yeoman, and set decorator Kris Moran do with their backgrounds. There is always some fun things to find behind the action in the foreground. While taking a short walk with Schwartman’s character, we see an entire boy scout camp in action through various activities. The beautiful scenery also takes center stage, especially when narrator Bob Balaban speaks to the audience and only takes the bottom fifth of the screen so you can enjoy the background.
5 Two highlights that stick out for me among many, many moments, is the fact that they call the boy with a patch over his left eye, Lazy Eye throughout the film and Norton & Willis response to an accusation by shouting ‘That was the girl’ in unison. Funny stuff.
RECOMMENDATION: Watch the DVD as soon as it comes out
UPCOMING REVIEWS: The Dark Knight Rises
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