Intelligent and refreshingly original.

Rating: 10/10 (22 October 2017)

When it came to comedy in my younger days, I always watched movies that make me howl with laughter like Ace Ventura or Animal House, but when my parents recommended The Grand Budapest Hotel, I watched the trailer and it peaked my interest and I later watched it and absolutely adored it. From it's ingenious writing and glorious visuals to it's comedy and acting, this is what so many modern comedies aspire to be and yet always fail.
The movie opens in modern day where a young woman reads from a book by an author who vacationed at a run-down hotel in the Republic of Zubrowka called The Grand Budapest Hotel in the 1960s where he encounters the owner named Moustafa who tells him the story of how he inherited the hotel. We are than again thirsted back to 1932 where the Grand Budapest's attendant, M. Gustave is busily attending to the desires of the hotel's rich customers as well as educating Moustafa who is the hotel's new lobby boy, but when a favorite client of his is killed under questionable conditions, he is framed for killing her and is placed under arrest but is able to escape. Now, Gustave and Zero must clear his name and reclaim what is rightfully his.
While on the surface, the movie may seem like a zany comedy with a murder thrown in for good measure, it's actually a series of arranged events in which many people tell the story of M. Gustave over the years while the extraordinary intro hints at the boundless creativity of director Wes Anderson. Some viewers might think that it's pointless, but it does give a lot of background when the last title card shows up, summing up the reason for the time skip, but it doesn't let up as the movie is a comical multiple genre journey that never seems to slow down for a breather, but even when it gets to the tense moments, there's always a sense of cheeriness right up until the movie ends. Much like what Quentin Tarantino did with Inglorious Bastards with it's self-awareness and adjusting of history, it's hardly surprising that Wes Anderson added in references to WW II throughout the movie as it's based off of a few books by author Stefan Zweig which adds to the authenticity of the movie not to mention that throughout the movie, the war rushes our heroes and villains to carry out their motives rapidly in order to accomplish their various ambitions which adds to the authenticity of the movie.
While the human characters are fascinating, The Grand Budapest Hotel feels like a character itself with its spectacular setting, the baths, the hallways, tall roofs, soft colors and identical carpets and walls all give the viewer a sense of grandeur and awe making the viewer feel like they are actually staying there while the visual landscape and photography is simply gorgeous and not only ingenious in approach but also beautiful in gorgeous and smooth editing not to mention the production design, the clothes, hair and make-up all justly earned their Oscar wins as they encompass a distinctively bright and enchanted aura to them while at the same time giving meaning to the gloomy aspect that mirrors the crime drama characteristics of the movie wonderfully. The musical score by Alexandre Desplat is also wonderful with its memorably compelling and captivating musical themes while the film's score crafts a whole new setting for the movie's characters to thrive in and the themes for the various characters are just as attention-grabbing. While the movie has an undercurrent of seriousness, it's still a laugh riot and there's pretty to chuckle at in the movie from Gustave's prison breakout scene to him and Zero fleeing across the snow. The characters are portrayed to such excessiveness that it's impossible not to be entertained by watching them in spite of the dangers they face, the witting too is marvelous with plenty of hilarious lines that are bound to make you laugh your head off more times than once during the movie.
To make the movie complete, Anderson recruited one of the best ensemble casts for a comedy I've ever seen and everyone is perfect in their roles. Saoirse Ronan is wonderful as pastry chef Agatha, Tilda Swinton leaves a wonderful impression as Madame D and gives a fine performance, Jeff Goldblum is fantastic as a doomed attorney, Bill Murray is great in his role as is Owen Wilson, Edward Norton is great as the police chief, F. Murray Abraham is wonderful as the older Moustafa, Adrian Brody is awesome as Madame D's conniving son while Willem Defoe is perfect as the evil and brutal psychopath especially when he's standing in the shadows and endangers unsuspecting targets. Ralph Fiennes is fabulous as M. Gustave and brings his familiar endurance to this outlandishly bizarre character, but in a comical curve puts on a formal yet amusingly vulgar witty persona that is more than captivating and there's no absence of hilarious dialog coming from his mouth as he spouts passionate poetry, biting banter or distasteful fits of swearing, truly one of the finest comedic performances of the decade. Assisting in Ralph's crazy adventures is the inexperienced yet ever devoted Zero, perfectly acted by Tony Revolori who brings a dash of boyish zazz to the role as Zero learns his surroundings, but we do learn about his troubled past later on in the film not to mention the interaction between him and Fiennes is so heart-melting as it feels like a father-son relationship by the movie's end.
Honestly, there's nothing else I can say about the Grand Budapest Hotel, it's a wonderful comedy that provides plenty of laugh-out-lord moments but still manages to stand above most other comedy movies by being intelligent with it's writing, characters and humor, so if you want a comedy movie that won't insult your intelligence than this is your movie.