The Darjeeling Limited

Writer-director Wes Anderson has become a brand name in Hollywood. You expect certain quirkiness to be associated with every single one of his movies. Like every major brand, it becomes increasingly more difficult for him to be original and creative in his filmmaking.

Rushmore was the movie that put his name on the map. It was new and different at the time and the audience felt a breeze of fresh air. The Royal Tenenbaums was a decent follow-up, but it started losing some freshness. When The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou rolled out, I didn’t even bother to see it after watching the trailer in the theater. Now with his new movie, The Darjeeling Limited, I was hoping that he might have challenged himself and created a movie unique from his earlier works. However, no such luck.

The Darjeeling Limited follows three American brothers on their “spiritual journey” across India. Anderson is practically repeating himself here. The characters all possess the same eccentricity found in other Anderson movies. In fact, the entire film seems like a big inside joke where only the actors understand the humor. The dialogue looks to be written on paper instead of being spoken. The situations are contrived and predictable. Also what is the deal with those slow motion shots? Does Anderson want to be the John Woo without action?

The three main actors, Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody and Jason Schwartzman, are competent, but they have done better in some other films. Wilson and Schwartzman could play their roles in their sleep and sometimes you do get a sense that they are phoning in their performance. For Brody, comedy does not come naturally. He struggles most of the time in the movie to keep up with his two co-stars who are veterans at comedies.

The only bright spot in the movie is Peter Sarstedt’s 1969 song Where Do You Go To (My Lovely). It is a great song and now a whole new generation gets to appreciate it.