Wes Anderson couldn’t personally accept his first Oscar for his short, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar.  He was in Germany making this very film. Come to think of it, outside of his Roald Dahl anthology, this is the most visible he’s ever been in his career. And it’s not just because of that social media challenge, which virtually everyone couldn’t nail. Since the pandemic, he’s whipped up one feature every two years, starting with 2021’s The French Dispatch and continuing with 2023’s Asteroid City. He now continues that streak with The Phoenician Scheme.

Based on a story he wrote with Roman Coppola, Anderson achieves quite the world-build with this dark comedy, thanks to Adam Stockhausen’s artwork-inspired production design and Alexandre Desplat’s musical score. It’s his first film not to be shot by his frequent collaborator Robert Yeoman. Taking his place here is France’s Bruno Delbonnel, who shot this entirely in Potsdam’s Studio Babelsberg. 

Benicio del Toro takes the lead as Anatole “Zsa-Zsa” Korda, a thrice-widowed industrialist prone to assassination attempts. After surviving his sixth orchestrated plane crash, the controversial businessman is denied entry to Heaven once more. And, apparently, in this world, Bill Murray is God and Willem Dafoe and F. Murray Abraham are but among His subjects. 

Knowing his life hangs in the balance, Korda reaches out to his estranged daughter, a future nun Sister Liesl – impressive debut by Kate Winslet’s daughter, Mia Threapleton. Being the only daughter in a flock of 10, she’s deemed worthiest to take over his business. Of course, he has to make amends in the process, especially since she believes he murdered her mother. The two then tentatively team up with Korda’s Norwegian new accomplice, Bjørn (Michael Cera), now in tow.  

With government agents, notably Excalibur (Rupert Friend) in hot pursuit, Korda taps his go-to investors for budget assistance, using hand grenades as tokens. Enter an impressive array of A-listers. There’s Riz Ahmed as Prince Farouk of Phoenicia; Tom Hanks and Bryan Cranston, respectively, as Leland and Reagan from Sacramento; Mathieu Amalric as Marseille Bob, a sketchy night club owner; Jeffrey Wright as Marty from Newark; and Scarlett Johansson, in a near cameo as Hilda, Korda’s second cousin. Joining the chaos is Richard Ayoade as Sergio, a charismatic guerilla. 

This is the most religious-leaning Anderson gets, as if those Afterlife sequences aren’t enough hint. As Korda is drawn to Catholicism, Liesl drifts away from hers. It’s family dysfunction, however, that sticks as the prevailing theme. The worldwide search concludes when the trio finally encounter Korda’s half-brother, Nubar (Benedict Cumberbatch), the last potential investor who refuses to chip-in. By then, the audience will have figured out the film’s core. It’s a father-daughter drama at the end of the day, just colorfully wrapped in Wes Andersonisms. It’s not exactly Royal Tenenbaums-meets-Grand Budapest Hotel, but there are enough pieces to make this one a worthy, if not totally memorable, adjunct.