The French Dispatch (2021) Movie Review
The French Dispatch is the latest movie from writer and director Wes Anderson. I was eagerly anticipating this movie mainly for the absolutely stacked cast. Anderson’s movies tend to be very hit or miss for me, but the stellar cast chock full of big names had me excited. The French Dispatch is more of an anthology than a cohesive movie. The through line for the plot is simple enough. Arthur Howitzer Jr. (Bill Murray) is the editor of The French Dispatch, a newspaper that covers a wide variety of stories. Each segment of the movie features a different writer as they capture their latest story for the paper. It’s charming in a very Wes Anderson way.
Before delving into the three pieces in the newspaper, we get to go on a journey through the made-up French town of Ennui-sur-Blasé with Herbsaint Sazerac (Owen Wilson) as our tour guide. This is followed by a piece about Moses Rosenthaler (Benicio del Toro), an artistic genius who is in prison. His muse is prison guard Simone (Léa Seydoux) and he is represented somewhat unwillingly by Julian Cadazio (Adrien Brody) who attempts to push his art into the world. The next piece is incredibly different as writer Lucinda Krementz (Frances McDormand) covers student protests with revolutionary Zeffirelli (Timothée Chalamet) at the helm. The story gets a bit messy as Krementz breaks the golden rule of journalism when she inserts herself into the story she’s covering. The third and final piece follows Roebuck Wright (Jeffrey Wright) as he attempts to profile the famous chef, Nescaffier (Steve Park), who cooks for the police department.
The French Dispatch is almost impossible to summarize in a way that makes much sense at all. But each of these vignettes tells a compelling story about an interesting person. It is more a movie to be experienced than to be pushed along heavily by plot points. I’ve read that The French Dispatch is an examination of journalism based off of a specific time in The New Yorker’s canon. This went over my head as I’m not as familiar with The New Yorker as one should be to get the similarities. I am happy to report you don’t need to be familiar with these parallels to enjoy The French Dispatch. But if you are, I’d hazard a guess that watching The French Dispatch would be even more enjoyable as you parcel out those references.
Each vignette offers a fun and somewhat zany divulgence into a different life which keeps The French Dispatch from becoming droll or dreary. The acting is, as you would expect, superb, with each actor bringing their ‘A game’ to the table. And Wes Anderson whips up a frenzied hodge-podge of stories that are entertaining. The French Dispatch is a lot of fun and will be a treat for die hard Anderson fans.
You’ll like this movie if:
1. You love Wes Anderson
2. You like vignettes
3. You like rapid-fire stories with extraneous details
