Unsavory goulash or exquisite clutter?

Rating: 8/10 (2 April 2014)

You know your movie is getting overcrowded when it becomes nearly impossible to tell who belongs on the poster and who is to be relegated to an Unbilled Cameo. Milton Welsh (AEON FLUX, CONAN THE BARBARIAN) is on-screen for more scenes lasting longer than is Tom Wilkerson. However, most everybody else at my screening were gray-haired old farts approximately Wilkerson's age, as opposed to the Milton Welsh crowd, who are still in their reproductive years. Therefore, THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL plasters Wilkerson on its poster to appeal to its target audience (folks with one foot in the grave), most of whom could not distinguish Welsh from their own great-grandchildren. THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL is ALL about the past, with lines such as, "His world vanished long before he ever entered it." As Michael Bay once said, "Those who can, transform the "Now" into Tomorrow. Those who cannot, make 'Art' films." The best thing about THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL is that it provides so many jobs for codgers. With every flick like this, it's likely to be one less plug for the Old Broke Actors' Poor House we'll be forced to sit through at the multiplex (and less social security gravy train dough stolen from today's teens).