Film: The Phoenician Scheme

 

GENRE: Comedy Drama
RATING: PG-13 for violence and some sexual material
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 41 minutes
PLATFORM: Movie Theatre
STARRING: Benicio Del Toro (Traffic, Sicario, French Dispatch)
Mia Threapleton (newcomer); Michael Cera (Superbad, Molly’s Game)
DIRECTOR: Wes Anderson (Rushmore, Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs)
WRITERS: Anderson & Roman Coppola (Asteroid City, Moonrise Kingdom)
PLOT: A wealthy business appoints his daughter, a nun, as his sole heir. They begin an enterprise that depends on a lot of cooperation from others.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I love Wes Anderson films. All of them.  

STORY STUFF: I usually love a well-told Wes Anderson tale but this one did not grab me. The characters, dialogue and plenty of scenes were all wonderfully done but the plotline, the scheme, got a little complicated for me. There is a lot of stuff about money and assassination attempts but I didn’t find myself rooting for the characters as much. Even so, it is still a fun watch.    

ACTING STUFF: The Anderson troupe of actors always give top-notch performances. You can tell that they all just love playing these quirky characters and mingling will fellow stars. Del Toro is perfectly cast as the death-defying businessman – his reactions to the madness around him is priceless. Cera was born to be a part of this eccentric acting company. He is awesome – especially half-way through the film. Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston are great hamming it up. Scarlett Johansson is underused but probably because she was busy in Jurassic Park. And the cameo you are waiting for does eventually show up in an amazing role.

ARTISTIC STUFF: As usual, the production design is so precise and makes me want to watch it again to catch some of the background details. It is simply impeccable. As seen the closing credits, the art work depicted in this film are not recreations but originals borrowed from a few collectors. The camera work is classic Anderson with all the elements we have come to expect. You will definitely not be disappointed with that aspect of the film.  

VERDICT: Four stars out of five
SEE IT IF: You like Wes Anderson films.  
UPCOMING REVIEW: F1