Out of many cultural references featured in Wes Anderson’s latest film, , the one that was absolutely not intended by the authors, but that keeps coming to mind, is Amy Adams’ famous rant in about having to “read the whole movie”.

She, of course, was talking about the necessity to literally read the subtitles during the screening of a film that was not in English, but her general point is still unexpectedly on brand: there are just so many movies recently that are clearly meant to be “read”, decoded, or deciphered – rather than, well, watched.

Wes Anderson has danced around this issue for the last decade. In some of his recent works, life does find a way through the intricacies of the author’s trademark style, like in (2023). In others, no live forms get a chance to spring up in the meta-modernist air, like in (2021). In this sense, comes off as a dive straight into the latter territory – everything in it looks and sounds incredible, yet somehow, it’s very hard to truly enjoy. It’s not even the case of the eternal battle for dominance between style and substance: every frame and every element in the film can mean everything and nothing at the same time.

Does the fact that Benicio del Toro’s character, a sleazy industrialist, Zsa-Zsa Korda, is probably named after a famous director, Alexander Korda, add anything to the film? Is the fact that his daughter, Liesl (played by Mia Threapleton, one of the best things about the movie), who is about to become a nun, represents two references to at once, in any way significant? A character named Excalibur also appears, so it’s really hard to tell. There is a perfunctory story here, based on many classic adventure movies of the past, about a journey these two have to experience together.

On the surface, it’s to fulfill Korda’s latest business endeavor and for him to have an heiress available to take over if one of the many assassination attempts on his person is successful. On another level where discourse exists, Korda and Liesl must have this adventure in order to find their way to each other. The familial bonds that can be complex and outright toxic, but might still become a salvation in the crazy world that’s getting crazier and meaner by the minute, have always been one of Anderson’s favorite topics. In , this motive is almost enough to breathe life into this perfectly symmetrical construction, just not quite.

It's mostly due to the fact that this is a movie filled with Cool Ideas. A morally corrupt businessman wants a nun to succeed him! The same morally corrupt businessman has a newly found fondness for entomology, so he hires a special person (Michael Cera) to consult him about it! Once again – a man named Excalibur is also here! A battalion of great actors, including Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Scarlett Johansson, Riz Ahmed, and Benedict Cumberbatch, appear and do something on screen, but they’re part of the director’s measured meta-world, so they all talk with the same intonation.

Off screen, Anderson’s constant collaborator, composer Alexandre Desplat, and cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel also seem to be mostly wasted, since we only get a vague idea of what their efforts are aimed at here. Celebrating the concept of a found family that sometimes can turn out to be your actual family, with some side digs at capitalistic practices, is always welcome. But is it too much to ask that this worthy cause be supported with an actual story, characters, and aesthetics that can be watched rather than “read’ through a myriad of references, codes, and zings? You tell them, Amy Adams!

The film opens today in New York and Los Angeles, ahead of its wide theatrical release next week, via Focus Features. Visit their official site for locations and showtimes. 

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