Review Roundup: Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme
If I told you Wes Anderson’s latest movie was about a billionaire oligarch (Benicio del Toro) who, after surviving a bombing, tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter (Mia Threapleton) — who, by the way, is also a nun — while trying to cement a massive business deal and survive assassins, terrorists, and black belts, then chances are, you’d probably respond with “Of course it is.”
Anderson has well-established himself as one of modern cinema’s more unique and eccentric voices, his films filled with elaborate and byzantine style (right down to their typography), quirky dialog and storylines, and an ever-growing cast of acclaimed actors portraying his deadpan characters. Thus, it’s always tempting to describe his newest film as “more of the same,” because he’s kind of been doing “more of the same” ever since 1996’s Bottle Rocket.
But is “more of the same” enough for The Phoenician Scheme, his thirteenth feature? Or have his usual eccentricities become too much (or too little, as the case may be)? Read on for a selection of critics’ reviews and reactions.
The Phoenician Scheme, a star-studded 1950s espionage farce, is a surprising step backward for the whimsy maestro, whose signature aesthetic has often revealed a hidden thoughtfulness, and a melancholy outlook about the state of things. It’s not that these layers aren’t present here; rather, the issue is Anderson fails to reconcile the growing tension between his surface and subtext, despite a few flourishes that gesture towards breaking through his stylistic constraints. The result might just be his least engaging work.
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?
The Phoenician Scheme may present itself as a fabulous piece of stylized escapism, but it’s hard to watch it and not think about the oligarchs of today. Anderson’s style is often described as whimsical, but here, he’s made a movie about the literal whims of tycoons. The film has his signature visual touches, full of symmetrical compositions and exquisite textures and details, but there’s an uninviting coldness to the backdrops themselves: a rich man’s fortress, a half-built railway tunnel, a fancy but dim nightclub. It’s as if we’re seeing the hollowness of extreme wealth.
Less conceptually quirky than the eccentric auteur’s recent Asteroid City (with its film-within-a-stage-rehearsal-within-a-Playhouse 90-esque-TV-special meta framing), but no less profound, The Phoenician Scheme once again finds Anderson incorporating existential matters into a seemingly satirical form. Not a frame goes by without myriad comedic details to tickle his audience, and yet beneath it all, the director dares to confront questions of mortality.
The best of his movies — Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Grand Budapest Hotel — find a way to gel a bigger-picture pathos with the idiosyncrasies, stylistic tics, tricks, and storytelling modes that has made him a beloved figure among both film nerds and discerning viewers desperate for watching big stars have fun. We’d rank this one right next to those.
It’s safe to say that Anderson’s ornate style of filmmaking isn’t for everyone, with many simply dismissive of the differences film to film and simply writing them all off as silly stuff. This is their loss, of course, and for those even casual fans there’s so much to admire here for the willing. Although this particular story shares some of Asteroid City’s surrealism and The French Dispatch’s immaculate sense of place, the stakes feel somewhat more lighthearted here despite a narrative that involves hand grenades, karate fights, family feuds, flaming crossbow bolts and discussions of the way to best employ slave labor.
What stands out most about Phoenician Scheme is how despite it being a definitively Anderson movie, it avoids feeling stale or shallow in the way that some of his less-memorable efforts can. This is due to the sweetness found in its central father-daughter pairing: “I’m new to my family,” Liesl says at one point, an elegant way of encapsulating the awkwardness she feels outside of her convent home. By the end, she’s embraced her family — and totally reinvented it.
There’s much dramatic ground to cover, but after a reasonably brisk opening half, Anderson runs out of steam, fighting to find a way out of the intricate tale he’s concocted, making a curious creative choice to go without a payoff entirely. As with Anderson’s previous two endeavors, The Phoenician Scheme is cold to the touch, lacking wit and surprises as the director continues to get lost in the cinematographic details that truly capture his imagination.
Better than the disaffecting The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and the too remote Asteroid City, but less moving than Grand Budapest Hotel, Anderson’s latest is still too artificial to engross emotionally. Simply put, a father and daughter story shouldn’t lack soul, but Phoenician Scheme is just a tad few hairs distancing.
On the surface, the latest from the beloved auteur feels like a lark — it’s one of his flat-out goofiest movies, filled with physical humor and sight gags — but he’s also playing with deeper themes like finding purpose in family instead of business and the way oligarchs can manipulate both. Buoyed by a traditionally spectacular ensemble, The Phoenician Scheme feels unlikely to be anyone’s favorite Wes Anderson flick. Still, it’s so easy to like that it’s equally difficult to hate it.
The Phoenician Scheme arrives in theaters on May 30, 2025. Watch the trailer:
