The French Dispatch movie review

MOVIE TITLE: The French Dispatch

In select theaters on October 22 with a wider release on October 29, 2021

RATING: R

LENGTH: 1 hour 48 minutes

IN A NUTSHELL:

This quirky film by Wes Anderson is a love letter to journalists set in an outpost of an American newspaper in a fictional twentieth-century French city that brings to life a collection of stories published in “The French Dispatch Magazine”.

The story is by Roman Coppola and Hugo Guinness, featuring three Americans who wrote for a French paper.

If you enjoy Wes Anderson movies, you’ll be amused by his newest, artsy-fartsy film. If you think all of his movies are nonsensical and odd, then you definitely don’t want to watch this because it’s more of the same times ten.

THINGS I LIKED:

There are so many gorgeous frames that could be pieces of artwork. Wes Anderson has such an incredible eye for beauty, humor, and intriguing insight.
I loved all of the still-shot scenes where people were mostly frozen in place. The style was overused in the movie, however.
The film pokes fun at the legendary THE NEW YORKER, as well as French culture, and journalism.
The talented cast appears to willingly trust Wes Anderson to work his magic even in the weirdest of scenes. The film is packed full of incredible actors who have won Academy Awards: Frances McDormand, Benicio Del Toro, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, Saoirse Ronan, Christoph Waltz, and Oscar nominees Willem Dafoe, Bill Murray, and Timothee Chalamet. Other favorites in the cast include Elisabeth Moss, Lea Seydoux, Owen Wilson, Henry Winkler, and Liev Schreiber. Sadly, some of those are only short cameo performances.
The narrative is witty and often hilarious.
I thought it was very clever to show the staff writers in the actual stories they wrote for the magazine.
The bouncy musical score is whimsical, letting you know not to take anything seriously.
The production design is meticulous.
The cinematography looks amazing.

THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:

Like one of the lines in the movie, “Let’s start with the typos…” This film could have used some editing. The movie itself feels very self-indulgent and as if no one had the guts to say “no” to Wes Anderson.
It would be accurate to say the film is style over substance. Wes Anderson spends more time painting gorgeous pictures than he does storytelling.
The French word “ennui” is used often and means “boredom”. Just saying…
It’s incredibly pretentious.
It’s often hard to follow.
Most of the movie is in black and white, a style that a lot of people don’t enjoy. Beyond that, the film moves from color to black and white to even animation.
The trailer makes it look more entertaining and mainstream than it is.
Call me a prude, but I thought the nudity was completely unnecessary.

TIPS FOR PARENTS:

This is not an appropriate film for kids. Plus, they probably wouldn’t appreciate, understand, or even like it.
There are several scenes with a completely naked lady standing as a model for a painter. Another actress is topless in a brief scene.
There is another scene where you see a naked man who covers his private parts.
Some bloody violence in black and white.
Some French and Spanish are often spoken without subtitles
1 F-bomb
Pre-marital relations.