I met a friend of mine in Boulder today to see "Asteroid City"

[Xavier Breath]

6. I saw it earlier this afternoon at out local art house

and I was disappointed with the effort, to say the least. The set design and the colors were all amazing, especially the motel and the rocks and desert, the latter looking like a Warner Brothers roadrunner cartoon. But, that's where the magic ended. I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it by elaborating (and if you saw 15 minutes in, you know what I'm talking about), but the film contains a framing device that I found to be absolutely jarring. The set-up was explained at the beginning, so it was not unanticipated. Nonetheless, each time it occurred I was pulled completely out of the story. It was wholly unnecessary.

Wes Anderson, to my way of thinking, has gotten too cute by half. It's been a slow slide since Moonrise Kingdom and Grand Budapest Hotel, the apex of his filmmaking IMHO, and this film keeps that trend intact.