--- title: "Asteroid City: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/asteroid-city/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/asteroid-city" critics_score: 70 critics_reviews: 13 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Asteroid City (2023): what the critics said Critics' score 70 from 13 reviews: 8 positive, 3 mixed, 2 negative. The reviews are mostly warm, with a wide spread beneath the warmth. Most critics agree on the surface: the desert town is meticulously built, the production design and the 1950s Americana are praised almost everywhere, and the large ensemble is found to be game. The praise clusters around the play-within-a-television-broadcast framing, which the film’s admirers take as Anderson’s most searching work on grief, family and making sense of the world through art, and around Jason Schwartzman and Scarlett Johansson, whom several critics, including the Los Angeles Times and The Hollywood Reporter, single out for bringing feeling to a cool design. The reservations cluster on the same framing device: doubters find it over-complicated and dramatically inert, holding the audience at arm’s length. The dissent is sharp rather than mild. The Guardian finds it smug and suffocating, and Variety judges it for die-hards only. Nearly everyone agrees it will not convert the unconvinced. ## Little White Lies — David Jenkins Rating 5/5/5. 20 June 2023. The critic calls it a witty and deeply moving exploration, the maestro's formula tweaked to perfection, praising its metafictional dismantling of artistic creation and emotional depth. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/asteroid-city) ## Vulture — Bilge Ebiri Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 16 June 2023. The review calls Asteroid City a masterpiece that brings necessary madness to Anderson's method, connecting human mysteries to the unknown. It singles out the emotional wallop of the meta-theatrical climax for praise. [Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/2023/06/asteroid-city-review-wes-anderson-has-finally-gone-mad.html) ## The Telegraph — Robbie Collin Rating 4/5. 22 June 2023. Anderson’s oddest and most conceptually complex film yet is a play-within-a-film confection that rewards long-term fans with intricate whirrings and emotional depth. It explores finding and playing a role in life amid grief, love and existential search, with inimitable surface pleasures. [Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/asteroid-city-cannes-2023-wes-anderson-review/) ## The New Yorker — Anthony Lane Fi1m's normalised score 75/100 (inferred from the text). 16 June 2023. Emotions are stylized like the clothes in this ordered film, but Scarlett Johansson’s performance cracks the surface open. The title is a joke and the story layers a play within a TV broadcast, with delight in the textural contrasts and stylized elements. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/06/26/asteroid-city-movie-review-maggie-moores) ## Los Angeles Times — Justin Chang Fi1m's normalised score 65/100 (inferred from the text). 15 June 2023. The gorgeous production design and starry ensemble make for a half-irritating, half-intoxicating experience that soars, stalls and sometimes alienates. It lands on a moving conclusion that we are not alone, with Schwartzman and Johansson leaving the most poignant impression. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2023-06-15/asteroid-city-review-wes-anderson-jason-schwartzman-scarlett-johansson) ## Variety — Owen Gleiberman Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 23 May 2023. The director’s creation of a tiny desert town is an ingenious act of world-building, but what happens there has the turgid ironic whimsy of earlier Anderson films. It looks smashing but is dramatically inert and for die-hards only. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2023/film/reviews/asteroid-city-review-wes-anderson-jason-schwartzman-scarlett-johansson-tom-hanks-1235615834/) ## The Guardian — Mark Kermode Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 25 June 2023. The critic finds the film a smug and irritating exercise in studied quirkiness despite its meticulous visuals and starry cast. The meta structure and deadpan tone fail to engage, leaving a vacuum-sealed atmosphere that becomes suffocating. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/jun/25/asteroid-city-review-smug-wes-anderson-comedy-falls-to-earth) ## Empire — John Nugent 23 May 2023. The critic finds Asteroid City a delightful return to form for Anderson, praising its meticulous visual style, production design, and handling of themes like family, grief, and love amid meta framing and eccentric characters. It notes the film may not convert skeptics and can feel indulgent or unfocused at times. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/asteroid-city/) ## Financial Times Rating ★★★☆☆. 25 May 2023. Festival review. Wes Anderson’s latest is a minutely arranged homage to 1950s space nerds and star-crossed lovers that delights devout fans with its retro stylings and meta details but is unlikely to convert others. It improves on The French Dispatch with an emotional centre and gentle satire. [Read the review](https://www.ft.com/content/ddda7167-d61c-492c-9250-28b671ce8877) ## Screen Daily 23 May 2023. Festival review. The critic finds it delightful, occasionally moving and exquisitely crafted, a modest charmer about making sense of the world through art, with impeccable design and a winning whimsical tone. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/asteroid-city-cannes-review/5182173.article) ## Sight and Sound 25 May 2023. The critic praises the film's ambitious world-building and scene-by-scene pleasures in its comic-sketch style, highlighting the ensemble cast and 1950s Americana markers, while noting the meta framing device. [Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/asteroid-city-wes-andersons-charming-sci-fi-caper-festooned-with-markers-1950s-americana) ## The Hollywood Reporter — David Rooney 23 May 2023. Festival review. The review finds the film unequal parts exuberant and exasperating, with over-complicated framing and a lack of emotional pull despite impeccable craft. It singles out Jason Schwartzman and Scarlett Johansson for bringing poignant yearning to their roles amid the distancing whimsy. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/asteroid-city-review-scarlett-johansson-wes-anderson-1235497955/) ## The New York Times — Manohla Dargis Rating Critic's Pick. 15 June 2023. The film is filled with the expected visuals and curiosities from Anderson, comic and wry but with the soul of a tragedy. It explores desire, death, small mysteries, cosmic unknowns and the stories made of life through a meta structure of a TV show about a play. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/15/movies/asteroid-city-review-wes-anderson.html) ## The Times — Ed Potton Rating ★★★★☆. 23 June 2023. The director delivers another whimsical wonder with real emotion beneath the layers of artifice in this fantastical tale of a junior stargazers’ convention. An all-star cast brings warmth and Lynchian weirdness to the tricksy framing of play and TV show. [Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/asteroid-city-review-another-whimsical-wonder-from-wes-anderson-hvc36zxwc) ## Time Out — Phil de Semlyen Rating Recommended. 23 May 2023. The critic describes it as a heart-stirring, surrealist treat and Anderson's most bittersweet film about family since The Royal Tenenbaums, praising its whimsical sci-fi take on fellowship and the ensemble performances. [Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/asteroid-city-2023) ## Total Film 23 May 2023. The review calls it a playfully searching delight that contemplates infinity and life's mysteries while holding firm to Anderson's signature style. It highlights the wry exploration of grief, anxiety, and nuclear fears alongside inventive meta elements and strong performances from the ensemble. [Read the review](https://www.gamesradar.com/asteroid-city-review/) ## Polygon — Isaac Feldberg Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 25 May 2023. Festival review. The critic finds it a strong, deeply layered movie and Wes Anderson at his most mature and magical, singling out the framing device and existential themes. [Read the review](https://www.polygon.com/reviews/23735955/asteroid-city-review-wes-anderson) ## Digital Spy Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 22 June 2023. The piece positions the film as a meta exploration of how stories and art help people find meaning in life, blending Western, sci-fi, and arthouse elements. It singles out Anderson's use of symmetry, pastel colors, and drama-free performances for praise. [Read the review](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a44297390/asteroid-city-review-wes-anderson-meaning/) ## NME — James Mottram Rating 4/5. 23 June 2023. The critic praises the film's lush visuals, large ensemble cast, and affectionate take on 1950s sci-fi tropes within Wes Anderson's signature style. Jason Schwartzman's performance and the meta framing device are highlighted as particular strengths. [Read the review](https://www.nme.com/reviews/film-reviews/asteroid-city-review-wes-andersons-star-stuffed-ufo-adventure-3446917) ## /Film — Lex Briscuso Rating 7.5/10. 24 May 2023. Festival review. Asteroid City is a top-tier Wes Anderson original with a magical sci-fi edge that brings back carefree fun and charm while taking small risks. It is a blissful experiment, though not as profound in messaging as some earlier works. [Read the review](https://www.slashfilm.com/1294822/asteroid-city-review/) ## HeyUGuys — Emily Breen Rating 3/5. 23 June 2023. The film is a beautiful but frustrating Wes Anderson outing, with a game cast, keen ideas and gorgeous aesthetic that make for a playful if shallow slice. Annoying title cards and shallow characterisations prevent full immersion in its charm or deeper questions about grief and connection. [Read the review](https://www.heyuguys.com/asteroid-city-review/) ## The Ringer — Adam Nayman Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 15 June 2023. It is a return to form but feels like the work of a perfectionist on autopilot; praises technical mastery and ensemble while questioning whether it moves the audience. [Read the review](https://www.theringer.com/2023/06/15/movies/asteroid-city-wes-anderson-review) ## Deadline — Todd McCarthy 23 May 2023. Festival review. The film is a madly quirky surprise that oozes creativity at every turn, with distinctive stylized storytelling and propulsive lateral tracking shots that give it urgency and snap. The show-within-a-film conceit complicates things without much payoff and may baffle general audiences. [Read the review](https://deadline.com/2023/05/asteroid-city-review-wes-anderson-cannes-1235375328/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/asteroid-city.md