The Grand Budapest Hotel
A hotel concierge is blamed for a guest’s death.
Directed by Wes Anderson
(R)
***
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This mannered period caper might be Wes Anderson’s “most Wes Anderson–y film yet,” said Francesca Steele in The Independent (U.K.). Set in “a world all of its own” where the colors are surreal, the dialogue is deadpan, and Anderson regulars like Bill Murray and Owen Wilson show up in minor roles, it might be hopelessly twee if it weren’t also the director’s most crowd-pleasing effort. Ralph Fiennes “gives a glorious performance” as the eccentric concierge at a majestic hotel who beds countless dowager guests before one of them dies mysteriously and he has to outrun the law and an assassin to restore his name. Anderson, the director of Moonrise Kingdom and Fantastic Mr. Fox, has once again proved himself “one of our most reliable cinematic bringers of sensory delight,” said Dana Stevens in Slate.com. But he’s set this tale in a 1930s Europe about to be destroyed by war, and his quirky style doesn’t suit the dark milieu. Still, the film’s “campy ingenuousness” has strategic narrative purpose, said David Edelstein in New York magazine. It leaves you unprepared for “the final emotional wallop.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
How to travel with your dog
The Week Recommends These tips will help both of you have a great time
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US
-
'Congress could help by providing federal protections'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US
-
Musk vows DOGE pullback as Tesla profits plunge
Speed Read The Tesla SEO says he will soon step back from government matters to devote more time to the company
By Peter Weber, The Week US