More vibrant tedium from Wes the Less.

Rating: 6/10 (31 March 2014)

Wes Anderson lays the lipstick on in buckets in his latest pastel pig featuring a cast of big names (Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel, Ed Norton etc) who rather than get into character simply attend this costume party long on name dropping and quite slim plot wise. It's like looking at the Macy's Christmas window decorations one city block after the next as Anderson piles on his colorfully precious detail from end to end while dragging the anemic plot behind it.
Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes) , head concierge at the Grand Budapest Hotel and member in good standing with the legion of Crossed Keys is known far and wide for his close attention to detail and the extras (gigolo) he provides to one foot in the grave dowagers who check in. When one turns up dead she leaves him a precious painting and perhaps more but her Boris Badenov looking family will have none of this and H is charged with her murder instead. Along with faithful Lobby Boy, Zero, he sets out to clear his name and unmask the real murderers.
All form and no content, Hotel is rich in color and set design seducing you briefly with its cleverness and play land look but with its one cylinder storyline engine it hardly advances at all as Anderson bombards the audience with endless dead pan compositions and sorry slapstick performed by arch characters and special guest stars. The precision, detail and the promise of its look simply fails to support its meager drawn out plot and by the halfway mark you get tired playing with the same toys going in circles.
Ralph Fiennes as the perspicacious Gustave brings grace and more than a touch of sophistication to his charming and comic role but the rest of the cast is mass caricature that wears thin after initial contact and The Grand Hotel Budapest goes from four star to Motel 6 in no time.