Here are review links for this film submitted by our members:
- Allen Almachar @ The MacGuffin
- Excerpt: It clearly has its qualities, but I can’t help but think that much of what we get has already been explored more thoroughly in Anderson’s earlier outings.
- Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Texan Reviews
- Alex Bentley @ CultureMap Dallas
- Excerpt: Anderson is at his best when he fully leans into the comedy of his films. He does just that in The Phoenician Scheme, to the point that it doesn’t matter that the story is overly complex.
- Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: The plot is more framework for gags than the weightier considerations of his last film, most notable for the inspired addition of Anderson newbie Michael Cera and Benedict Cumberbatch’s crazed channeling of the mad monk Rasputin…
- Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: If you’ve ever wanted to live inside a diorama of dry wit and pastel paranoia, this offers more of the same — all fastidiously arranged by Wes Anderson.
- Nell Minow @ moviemom.com
- Excerpt: This is a movie that skitters along the surface of some of those themes without having much to say about them but looks gorgeous, in fact so exquisite that if it starts to drag, which it does, we wish the actors would get out of the way so we could better absorb the beauty of the settings. In other words, we’re in the bento box movie world of Wes Anderson.
- Aaron Neuwirth @ We Live Entertainment
- Excerpt: The Phoenician Scheme is an adventure lark with eyes on what happens when materialism and enlightenment collide. It’s also very funny and allows star Benicio del Toro to speak more lines in a row than I can ever remember.
- Matt Oakes @ Silver Screen Riot
- Excerpt: Wes Anderson is back to his whimsical quirks with The Phoenician Scheme, a welcome-enough addition to his illustrious second act as a manicured, highbrow comedy filmmaker. The cast is A-list, the shots are symmetrical, the heart is far from the sleeve. It’s everything New Wes represents to a T.
- Christopher Reed @ Film Festival Today
- Excerpt: On the one hand, “The Phoenician Scheme” can be seen as an ultimately sweet tale about a self-indulgent misanthrope learning to think beyond himself. On the other hand, that theme is so transparently obvious that it soon ceases to hold interest.
- Diego Salgado @ Sofilm [Spanish]
- Jeff Schaefer @ The Marquee Topic
- Excerpt: Benicio Del Toro takes the lead in Wes Anderson’s latest foray into whimsy, The Phoenician Scheme.
- Dan Stalcup @ The Goods: Film Reviews
- Excerpt: Even if it’s a hair safer and more narratively simple than Anderson’s most audacious works, we should never take a master operating at peak powers for granted.
- Josh Thayer @ The Forgetful Film Critic
- Excerpt: A single viewing of The Phoenician Scheme left me cold and feeling distanced from what Anderson is doing this time around.
- Andrew Wyatt @ The Take-Up
- Sebastian Zavala @ Cinencuentro.com [Spanish]
- Excerpt: Everything looks great, but it fails to generate much emotional impact, and it also feels a bit tedious, as if Anderson were running out of visual and stylistic resources.
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