Wes Anderson
| 07 Nov 2007
Wes Anderson – great or grate?
Bottle Rocket
Laura: Anderson's predilection for off-centre, inventive whimsy is clear from his first feature, a goofy, deftly handled crime caper and a masterclass in comic naiveté.
Paul: The first of many tortures to come: for inventive whimsy read strained characterisation and no laughs.
Rushmore
Laura: Sheer loopy genius in Anderson's most successful blend of offbeat humour and quiet sadness, packed with detail and a memorable hep-cat soundtrack.
Paul: Mean-spirited and packed with oddballs, it's another inexplicably well-loved sick bucket.
The Royal Tenenbaums
Laura: Deliciously eccentric, intellectual lunacy as Anderson ponders the strangeness of families in this labyrinthine, rarefied, completely artificial world. It might be his best work.
Paul: Actually, if I'm being honest, I can't argue with this one.
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
Laura: Bill Murray is at his most hilariously melancholic in this surreal, zany and psychedelic homage to Jacques Cousteau. Magic.
Paul: Anderson goes all out for eccentricity in this none-more-whimsical underwater shambles. Unbearable.
Bottle Rocket
Laura: Anderson's predilection for off-centre, inventive whimsy is clear from his first feature, a goofy, deftly handled crime caper and a masterclass in comic naiveté.
Paul: The first of many tortures to come: for inventive whimsy read strained characterisation and no laughs.
Rushmore
Laura: Sheer loopy genius in Anderson's most successful blend of offbeat humour and quiet sadness, packed with detail and a memorable hep-cat soundtrack.
Paul: Mean-spirited and packed with oddballs, it's another inexplicably well-loved sick bucket.
The Royal Tenenbaums
Laura: Deliciously eccentric, intellectual lunacy as Anderson ponders the strangeness of families in this labyrinthine, rarefied, completely artificial world. It might be his best work.
Paul: Actually, if I'm being honest, I can't argue with this one.
The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou
Laura: Bill Murray is at his most hilariously melancholic in this surreal, zany and psychedelic homage to Jacques Cousteau. Magic.
Paul: Anderson goes all out for eccentricity in this none-more-whimsical underwater shambles. Unbearable.