The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

*** ½ out of ****

It's often risky to create a “comedy of the absurd”, especially when it is rapid fire all the way. It's been done successfully many times (my personal favorites were “Raising Arizona” 1987 and “O Brother Where Art Thou” 2000) and this one hits so many of the right notes that I several times thought that it MUST BE a Coen Brothers film. It's hilarious without being slapstick and just really enjoyable all the way through. Upon reflection though, I see that it was much more heavy handed in its design to make sure it was a success, which may make it less risky than a Coen Brothers movie, but surely no less enjoyable.

Shown as a “tale being told through a story being told by another tale”, it follows the misadventures of Gustave, the concierge of the Grand Budapest Hotel (Ralph Fiennes), and his lobby boy, Zero (Mathieu Amalric) in 1932. War is imminent (which war I am not quite sure of) and danger abounds. Gustave's services are much in demand from the elderly female clients of the hotel, as he not only sees to their every comfort but also provides sexual services. And when one of his richest clients is murdered, he discovers he has been bequeathed a priceless Renaissance painting. Of course, the rest of her family is aghast that they will not be receiving the value of such an item and have Gustave accused of her murder. Gustave and Zero must clear his name.

This movie is really, really funny. As a comedy of the absurd, most of the jokes are treated as though they are not jokes at all, and if you're not paying attention you will miss many of them. The incessant nature of the comedy contributes to this, as the gags are utterly non-stop once they get started. But once you get into the swing of things they are all pretty obvious and several times I was caught so off guard I found myself barking a laugh out loud. Really wonderfully paced and extremely well assembled.

But as I mentioned previously, it watches almost like it was designed to be a "can't miss". The cinematography is wonderful, the sets are amazing and the script is hysterical, but the cast is truly off the charts. How director Wes Anderson was able to line up the non-stop cameos by big stars is almost unbelieveable. Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Edward Norton, Jude Law, Owen Wilson, F.Murray Abraham, Bill Murray and Harvey Keitel all show up at various times, and all (especially Brody) contribute to the hilarity.

Side note: I may be a bit biased when it comes to Adrien Brody.  Ever since his heart-stopping, other worldy performance in "The Pianist (2002) I would watch him play just about anything.  A performance like that one can remove all objectivity about an actor.  He destroyed me in that movie - possibly the best performance I have ever seen by anyone, anywhere, any time.  'Nuff said.

There are those suggesting that this film is a bit of a sham, dressed up on the outside and void in the middle, but I can't agree. The character development is unsubstantial yes, and the motivations of the villains get almost no treatment at all, but this isn't meant to be a deep or meaningful film. It's a comedy and the purpose of a comedy is to make you laugh. Consider it a wild success, because if you don't laugh at this movie either you have no sense of humour or just aren't smart enough to see the absurdity of virtually every situation presented.

“The Grand Budapest Hotel” is nominated for 8 Oscars including Best Picture, Director and Original Screenplay, and I doubt it has much chance at any of those. But the nominations for Cinematography, Editing, Production Design and Costume Design are all very real possibilities.

Ralph Fiennes has had a distinguished, Oscar-winning career, though he has never done anything much for me. But here he has finally put together a performance that I think is really great, and is the primary one in the movie. So I can finally say I liked him in something. But never, ever, EVER ask me to sit through “The English Patient” (1996) again. Death first.