Review of “The French Dispatch”

Jack Armstrong

One of my personal biggest problems with being an avid film watcher is that I am not familiar with a lot of Wes Anderson films. With movies like The Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs, and Fantastic Mr. Fox under his belt, Anderson has built a very solid reputation for his style of filmmaking that he, from what I’ve heard, uses consistently throughout the many movies he has created. However, when a random ad on YouTube appeared for a movie called The French Dispatch, I wasn’t even aware it was a Wes Anderson film, I just thought it looked interesting. The most eye-catching part of the trailer being the incredible cast that signed on to do this project. So many recognizable names are in this film that it’s near impossible to find an actor that you don’t know here. Actors like Timothée Chalamet, Bill Murray, Benicio Del Toro, Wilem Dafoe, Owen Wilson, and a smattering of other actors that you can’t help but be intrigued by what the movie had to offer. So, I bought a ticket, a large popcorn, and a medium drink to sit down and watch The French Dispatch in theaters. And after leaving the theater, I can safely say that this movie made me instantly regret having not seen Wes Anderson’s previous projects. The French Dispatch is one of, if not the best movies I’ve seen all year.

In one word, this film is “different.” It’s an experience that you will probably never see again because of how stylized it is. Taking heavy inspiration from magazines like The New Yorker, The French Dispatch is about the leader of a magazine company, designed to share stories in a very art-centric way. This movie is divided into three completely separate stories that are all written and given to Bill Murray’s character, the head of The French Dispatch. Aside from the aforementioned huge acting arsenal that Anderson got to work with, the cinematography and the writing are just spectacular in this film. There are shots in the film that are designed to feel fake, almost like they are paying tribute to low budget 60’s films with very cheesy and practical action shots. But I can’t help but be lost in the cinematography because it really is so different. Not only that, but the movie has a very smart writing style that can’t help but make you laugh when a joke is told. When creating a comedy film, you must especially pay attention to the writing because that is the thing that will make or break your film. At the end of the movie, I was so surprised by how much I loved the writing that I waited for the credits to tell me who exactly created the script. And low and behold, Wes Anderson was the sole writer on this film. What an absolute mastermind. For the sake of spoilers, I will not go into detail about the different stories that The French Dispatch tells because, not only would it give you some sort of expectation entering the theater, but also, it would be unbelievably difficult to describe the plots of these stories to you. Each of them are just so different that I would need to write a separate article for each story in this film.

I am completely serious when I say that this film needs to be nominated for several Oscars. It truly did not get the praise that it deserved upon release and, after watching this film, I am going to go back and watch some of Anderson’s other movies. If you have the chance, I highly suggest that you take the opportunity to watch The French Dispatch all the way through. It’s a film unlike anything I’ve seen before, in a good way. It’s an experience that will certainly get a chuckle out of you if you fully immerse yourself in its story.