Asteroid City (movie 2023) one trick pony

​Wes Anderson has apparently surpassed being a movie writer/director and became a brand. So hip, so precocious, so very trendy that stars are lining up to work with him, and the audiences clamor in anticipation. And for what?
Not much, going by his latest, Asteroid City. A movie so crammed with potential that it disappoints viscerally. 103 minutes of technicolor brightness, witty quips, and deadpan staccato dialogue in service of … apparently reminding us how quirky Anderson is and not much more.
The main question for me after watching this was, Can Wes Anderson actually do anything else other than Wes Anderson movies? Or is he so stuck in his rhythm and pattern that he can only continue to produce more of the same, until his work comes across as a caricature of itself? Much like its dialogue precisely rattled off in un-lifelike uniformity.
It was cute at first. Royal Tenenbaums, for one, is an absolute classic. But now it’s all too predictable, too glibly self-satisfied to properly enjoy. Asteroid City is cutesy and dioramic and witty in that wink-wink-nudge-nudge way but ultimately as empty as the desert its set in. And don’t you want more?