The Grand Budapest Hotel is a movie, that like fine cognac, should be enjoyed slowly to enjoy its full bouquet and stylistic charm. For movie goers,think Inspector Jacques Clouseau of Pink Panther fame becoming the concierge at The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Now add the flavor and charm of the finest hotel in Europe, The Grand Budapest Hotel, during a time between world wars. With that mental image of the facility firmly planted in your frontal lobes, add some mildly bawdy humor to a maximum injection of campy comedy and you have the outline of a film that is at the least a welcome change from all of the current movies now being shown. There is yet one more interesting challenge for the audience. Your name recognition skills will be severely tested to remember the names of the many famous actors who appear in a variety of cameo roles. The plot is almost unimportant to the production. Think of a Woody Allen film where the what and how of a story line being presented are almost secondary to the uniqueness of the film adaptation. Rating: AWCOP- A Welcome Change Of Pace. Not for everyone but enjoyable for most.
The Grand Budapest Hotel is playing exclusively at the Rialto Theater in The Villages.
J.R. “Jim” Zurak reviews movies for Villages-News.com