Like all Wes Anderson's movies, it has an eccentric design -- symmetrical, unreal, and cartoony, of course, but also a Fiestaware color pallette to go with its Southwestern location -- and a weirdly composed story. Nominally it's a TV special hosted by Bryan Cranston discussing the last play written by Edward Norton, a story about the goings-on at an almost non-existent American roadside attraction/motel/restaurant/gas station where families gather to attend an annual scholarship event for whatever Brainiac teenager has come up with the best space-related gadget for the US military and some corporate sponsor. The festivities are interrupted in the mid-1950s when aliens land and steal a meteor. An emergency is declared and no one can leave. Some people didn't care for this movie, saying it seemed pointless, and the dialogue awful. As I have argued in my reviews of other Wes Anderson movies, so what? For the first point, and it's a 1950s stage play, so of course the dialogue sounds ridiculous. I'm more concerned with the jokes, the vending machines that make perfect martinis, a meep-meeping puppet roadrunner, and the references to Billy Wilder's ACE IN THE HOLE. Anderson doesn't have to make movies with an Important Message. It's enough that he entertains us for a while, and his large and distinguished cast seem content to show up, perform their roles, and claim they had a good time doing so. I was certainly entertained. However, if you're looking for a Message to this movie, how about this: don't worry about the Answers To Important Questions. Maybe you'll stumble onto them, but probably not. One thing you can be sure of, though, is that even when things don't go to plan, even when they go disastrously, outrageously wrong, life will go on. So be ready for that. Or not. It'll happen anyway.

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