Asteroid City (2023)

	Directed by: Wes Anderson	COUNTRY USA GENRE Comedy/Drama NORWEGIAN TITLE Asteroid City RUNNING TIME 105 minutes
	Produced by: Wes Anderson Steven Rales Jeremy Dawson
	Written by: Wes Anderson Roman Coppola

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Augie Steenbeck	Jason Schwartzman	½
Midge Campbell	Scarlett Johansson
Stanley Zak	Tom Hanks	½
General Gibson	Jeffrey Wright	-
Dr. Hickenlooper	Tilda Swinton	½
The host	Bryan Cranston	-
Conrad Earp	Edward Norton	-
Schubert Green	Adrien Brody	-
J.J. Kellogg	Liev Schreiber	-
Sandy Borden	Hope Davis	-
Roger Cho	Stephen Park	-
Montana	Rupert Friend	-
June Douglas	Maya Hawke	-
Motel manager	Steve Carell	-
Mechanic	Matt Dillon	-
Polly	Hong Chau	-
Saltzburg Keitel	Willem Dafoe	-
Steenbeck's wife	Margot Robbie	-
Gen. Gibson's aide-de-camp	Tony Revolori	-
Woodrow	Jake Ryan
Dinah	Grace Edwards	½
Clifford	Aristou Meehan	-
Shelly	Sophia Lillis	-
Ricky	Ethan Josh Lee	-
The alien	Jeff Goldblum	-

Review

Wes Anderson welcomes us back to another version of his stylized cinematic worlds, this time a time-travel back to a futuristic, glossy 1950s take on Americana, where avant-garde vending machines, hopeful stargazing, and washed-out Hollywood starlets compete for attention. Of course, Anderson also includes a half-baked story-within-the-story (why wouldn't he), which if nothing else gives the likes of Bryan Cranston, Ed Norton and Adrien Brody some time to frolic about. But neither the frame story nor the main storyline really ever become more than the sum of their parts, and almost every single character and line of dialogue in this very Andersonesque microcosm has the cadence and feel of "The Wes Anderson Character", except perpaps for Scarlett Johansson's Midge Campbell – the movie's most interesting character. Despite all this, Asteroid City still is a delightful watch, not least thanks to the wonderful art direction which feels like a combination of an Edward Hopper painting and some of Anderson's best visual ideas.