I don’t think I’ve ever hidden the fact that I’m a fan of Wes Anderson’s output. I was there for the first showings of Isle Of Dogs, The French Dispatch, and Asteroid City. I was all over Netflix when his adaptations of the Roald Dahl’s collection of short stories, The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar and Six More, were broadcast. So I suppose I’m a bit late to the party seeing as how The Phoenician Scheme came out on 23rd May over here but I have had other stuff going on. Anyway, I finally got to see it yesterday.
I treated my good lady wife to a cheeky Nando’s and a matinee showing. I have to admit that I really pushed it on her. Wes Anderson directs beautiful films, if the story is nonsense you can just watch the pictures going past your eyes, that sort of thing. I’m not sure what she was expecting but this was her ‘World of Wes’ debut. I have to say that I feel it would have been better if she’d broken her duck with an earlier offering. Looking back I haven’t graded a Wes Anderson film below an ‘A’ but I’m afraid The Phoenician Scheme doesn’t quite do it.
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Help Yourself To A Hand Grenade
Was The Phoenician Scheme bad? No, not at all. It just wasn’t as magical as I was expecting. There was the usual stellar cast; Benicio del Toro, Michael Cera, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, F Murray Abraham, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Willem Dafoe, and Bill Murray amongst others. But, to be painfully honest, a lot of them just felt like they had a cameo shoehorned in just so their name could be added to the posters.
Having said that, Benicio del Toro (Zsa-Zsa Korda) and Michael Cera (Bjorn)carried the film and were, in turn carried by Mia Threapleton (Liesl). It is the first time I’ve consciously seen Ms Threapleton but I look forward to seeing what she is in next; she has the same talent and presence as her mother, Kate Winslet. One other bright spot for me was the radical freedom fighter, Sergio (Richard Ayoade). Richard Ayoade is, to my mind, always welcome on any screen that I’m looking at.
You’re Drunk…On Three Beers
At least he was in a couple of scenes. Some of the other cameos are, quite literally, blink and you’ll miss them, non speaking parts. F Murray Abraham, Willem Dafoe, and Bill Murray are hidden behind huge beards and robes. I can’t help but think that the Wes Anderson Repertory Company may have got a wee bit too big and he might need to think about making people take turns rather than some having a screen turn measured in seconds with no dialogue in order to fit them all in.
Despite all those moans I still quite liked The Phoenician Scheme. The colour palette may have seemed a bit muted in parts but the imagery was still lovely to look at. There were snatches of humour but not as much as in Asteroid City or The French Dispatch and nowhere near the level of The Grand Hotel Budapest. I think I’ll have to come back for another look and see if I have any revised opinions. I imagine that I’ll enjoy another viewing in the near future.
Grade: B+
About The Peetimes: I would recommend the 1st Peetime, but only because it’s a little longer.
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There are no extra scenes during, or after, the end credits of The Phoenician Scheme.
| Rated: | (PG-13) Smoking Throughout | Nude Images | Bloody Images | Some Sexual Material | Violent Content |
| Genres: | Action, Comedy, Crime |
| USA release date: | 2025-06-06 |
| Movie length: | |
| Starring: | Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera |
| Director: | Wes Anderson |
| Writer(s): | Wes Anderson, Roman Coppola |
| Language: | English |
| Country: | United States, Germany |
Plot
The story of a family and a family business.
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