The French Dispatch
Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: October 22, 2021 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 57 Critic Reviews
Positive:
45
Mixed:
11
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeOct 24, 2021
Anderson’s backdrop, a kind of steroidally enhanced Frenchness reminiscent of films such as Belleville Rendez-Vous and Amélie, is rather lovely, if ultimately as far removed from reality as is the film’s romanticised view of journalism. Read full review
60
PolygonRobert DanielsOct 22, 2021
The French Dispatch is probably the worst film of the director’s career. But even his worst effort is worth biting the bullet for. Read full review
60
TimeStephanie ZacharekOct 22, 2021
The French Dispatch is high Andersonia, an elaborate movie contraption with a million tiny parts moving in concert, and depending on your threshold, it might all just be too much. Read full review
60
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeOct 22, 2021
The French Dispatch is a lovely, lovely thing. But it is as impossible to grasp as a handful of water. Read full review
60
Time OutPhil de SemlyenJul 13, 2021
Much easier to admire and appreciate than it is to fall head over heels for, The French Dispatch has Wes Anderson in full megamix mode as he packs three short stories into an anthology structure that bubbles with flamboyance and ideas, before keeling over under the weight of own narrative cargo. Read full review
55
Vanity FairRichard LawsonJul 13, 2021
The film—structured as an issue of a New Yorker-esque magazine—is fussy and ornately detailed and difficult to grasp. Where Anderson’s past elaborate worlds have invited us in with all their cozy detail, The French Dispatch’s seems to haughtily sniff in our direction; it doesn’t much care if we get it. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternOct 28, 2021
So what does the film, playing in theaters, want to make millions of moviegoers feel? Delight in graphic design? Sure, but the filmmaker’s familiar motifs, playful and inventive as they may be, operate in an emotional void. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiOct 22, 2021
Anderson’s film is told via a prologue and three episodes that bring to life the quirky publication’s stories. They just barely engage the audience as we watch the director’s entire mobile phone contact list show up for about 15 seconds each. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshOct 21, 2021
If he is trying to say something (and it’s unclear what that might be), all of the fuss and muss obfuscates any message, and even worse, any emotional connection to the film. This latest dispatch is indeed a profound disappointment. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 20, 2021
In his fastidious, exacting, extraordinarily blinkered creation, writer-director Anderson this time has driven straight into a cul-de-sac, stranding every sort of good and great actor in the cinematic equivalent of a design meeting. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn HornadayOct 19, 2021
There’s attentive scrutiny here, and a surfeit of playful style, but precious little genuine curiosity or interest. Read full review
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