{"id":12039,"date":"2025-06-07T18:36:24","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T22:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=12039"},"modified":"2025-06-21T22:53:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T02:53:33","slug":"the-phoenician-scheme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/06\/07\/the-phoenician-scheme\/","title":{"rendered":"The Phoenician Scheme"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Phoenician Scheme<\/strong> (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Focus\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 101 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (violent content, bloody images, some sexual material, nude images)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Wes Anderson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Wes Anderson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Alexandre Desplat\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Bruno Delbonnel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: May 30, 2025 (US, limited)\/June 6, 2025 (US, wide)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Sera, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Mathieu Amalric, Richard Ayoade, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis, Bill Murray, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Willem Dafoe, F. Murray Abraham, Stephen Park, Alex Jennings, Jason Watkins, Donald Sumpter, Scott Shepherd, Karl Markovics, Tonio Arango, Stephane Bak, Aysha Joy Samuel.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0I normally love Wes Anderson\u2019s films. He\u2019s so stylistically eccentric with the square aspect ratio and use of actual 35mm Kodak film. He meticulously arranges each shot to look like one of those shoebox dioramas we used to make in grade school. Every prop has a vintage look to it like he bought them at thrift shops. His characters deliver their dialogue in a deadpan manner. Wes is a true craftsman. He continues all this in his latest comedy The Phoenician Scheme<\/strong>. Unfortunately, this time it feels like he made the movie on autopilot. It has all the right parts in all the right places, but his heart just isn\u2019t in it this time.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I was so rapt in taking in the sights and sounds, it took me a while to realize there isn\u2019t much of a plot to The Phoenician Scheme<\/strong>. I mean, there is something that resembles a plot, but it\u2019s really more like connective tissue, something to hold together the various set-pieces as the protagonist goes from one character to the next in search of funding for some big project. What that project is exactly, I couldn\u2019t say, but I think that\u2019s Wes\u2019 intention. The more important thing is the guy at the center of it all and his journey to self-discovery.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The main character of The Phoenician Scheme<\/strong> is Zsa-Zsa Korda (Toro, The French Dispatch), a super-wealthy business tycoon who\u2019s already survived six assassination attempts including the one that opens the film. Realizing he could go at any moment, he decides to hand over all his affairs to his estranged daughter Liesl (Threapleton, TV\u2019s Dangerous Liaisons), a novitiate nun who believes he was involved in her mother\u2019s death. His big project [aka \u201cThe Phoenician Scheme\u2019] is put at risk by a group of rival businessmen out to destroy Korda. His only move is to visit his investors and convince them to put up the money he needs to complete it. That, of course, will not be easy.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Korda\u2019s investors include the following: Prince Farouk of Phoenicia (Ahmed, Sound of Metal), brothers Leland (Hanks, Asteroid City) and Reagan (Cranston, Isle of Dogs), nightclub owner Marseille Bob (Amalric, The Grand Budapest Hotel), American investor Marty (Wright, The French Dispatch) second cousin and prospective wife Hilda (Johansson, Asteroid City) and half-brother Uncle Nubar (Cumberbatch, Doctor Strange). None of the visits turn out exactly how Korda would have liked.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The Phoenician Scheme<\/strong> is one of those instances where the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. I like many aspects of the film, but the overall experience is just a little more than okay. It\u2019s funny in a dry, deadpan way. Although there are humorous moments like when Korda ejects a pilot from his crashing plane seconds after firing him, the real humor is in the actors\u2019 delivery of their lines. It\u2019s their not acting silly that makes it so silly. Oh and anybody who thinks Michael Cera (Superbad) is an untalented twerp will be surprised by his performance as a tutor brought in to teach Korda all about insects. He nearly steals the show as a meek, mold-mannered sort with more to him than meets the eye.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Benicio is quite good as Korda, a ruthless sort who desperately needs a lesson or several in humility. His journey is transformative as he realizes he really does want to reconnect with Liesl and not just for business reasons. Sure, we see it coming. Isn\u2019t that the point of any personal journey? It\u2019s not as emotionally effective as it would be in movies not directed by Wes Anderson, but did you expect. This is Wes Anderson we\u2019re talking about here. Threapleton, Kate Winslet\u2019s daughter in her first major film role, is very good as Liesl. I love how she never cracks a smile in the midst of all the silly goings-on. I wish Scarlett had a bigger role. I just love her.<\/p>\n

\u00a0What\u2019s most interesting about The Phoenician Scheme<\/strong> is that Wes appears to be reaching for something deeper. He doesn\u2019t just search for meaning in bureaucratic matters; he also looks for it in Biblical matters like when Korda visits the afterlife after each attempt on his life. He\u2019s forced to confront his sins and shortcomings while God (played wonderfully by Bill Murray) listens. I do believe this is the deepest movie in Wes\u2019 filmography. He does get there, but it doesn\u2019t really give the film any weight. It\u2019s still pretty slight.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I wouldn\u2019t say I dislike The Phoenician Scheme<\/strong>. It\u2019s fine. It\u2019s just one of Wes\u2019 lesser films. It\u2019s not one that his fans will name as one of their faves. For me, his best is still The Royal Tenenbaums. It\u2019s going to take a lot to top that one. The Phoenician Scheme<\/strong> doesn\u2019t even come close. I\u2019d say this one is for his fans only.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Phoenician Scheme (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Focus\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 101 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (violent content, bloody images, some sexual material, nude images)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Wes Anderson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Wes Anderson\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Alexandre Desplat\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Bruno Delbonnel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: May 30, 2025 (US, limited)\/June 6, 2025 (US, wide)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Benicio del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Sera, Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks, Bryan […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12050,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/The-Phoenician-Scheme-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12039"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12039\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12051,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12039\/revisions\/12051"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}