movie review: The Phoenician Scheme

Review by Jeff DeRouen

When my Southern dad became a grandfather, he lost all connection with the often emotionally unavailable “men don’t cry” parent of my youth and turned into a giant softie who says “I love you” and cries during Folgers Christmas commercials. I mention this because, at its core, I feel like Wes Anderson’s new movie, The Phoenician Scheme, is about that kind of personal transition.

Benicio Del Toro (in yet ANOTHER brilliant performance) plays Zsa-zsa, an oligarch they (yes, THEY) call “Mr. 5%” because of his reputation in the global industrial trade game. He is wealthy, powerful, and under constant threat of assassination - a running gag that plays out in hilarious and often cartoonishly violent ways. He reconnects with his estranged daughter (Mia Threapleton in a star-making turn) for an important mission where Zsa-zsa hopes to repair their relationship and talk her into taking over his business/estate before she makes her vows to become a nun.

Watching this pair of moral opposites make their way along this journey is incredibly entertaining and laugh-out-loud funny, not to mention a supporting ensemble boasting the kind of all-star roster they used in 70’s disaster movies. These are great actors having fun and turning in top-notch performances without the threat of the ship sinking around them or the airplane they’re on going into the ground like an exploding earthworm.

Wes Anderson mainstays like Tom Hanks, Geoffrey Wright, and Bill Murray (as GOD) are just some of the players here and Michael Cera, in particular, is positively brilliant as Bjorn, the tutor who joins Zsa-zsa and his daughter on their quest.

Look, either you dig what Wes Anderson throws down or you don’t – and I REALLY dig what he does. The Phoenician Scheme fits perfectly into Wes’s wholly original filmography, both thematically and visually (it’s gorgeous – see it on the big screen), so if his style of storytelling is something you’re drawn to, you’re gonna have a really great time at the movies. It’s an endearing story about family and the crucial life requirement of changing who we are, becoming better people so that we can experience happiness. It’s a true delight, and a perfect movie to take your parents to.