Wes Anderson’s latest film, Asteroid City, flew under the radar a little in 2023, but a surprising new ranking seems to indicate that the film might actually be widely disliked. Set in a retrofuturistic version of 1950s America, Asteroid City follows a group of parents and their children from across the country gathered together in the desert for a Junior Stargazer convention. Par for the course of Anderson’s films, Asteroid City features an ensemble cast full of big names, including Tom Hanks, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, and many more.
Asteroid City came and went and ended up getting somewhat overshadowed by some of the year’s bigger hits. At one point, Asteroid City had Anderson’s worst Rotten Tomatoes score in 16 years since 2007’s The Darjeeling Limited, which remains at 69%. However, it has since climbed from 73% to 75%, tying with his most recent film, 2021’s The French Dispatch. Despite this lower-than-average score in comparison to most of Wes Anderson’s movies, it didn’t seem like Asteroid City was lacking in quality or particularly poorly received, but a recent framing of the film suggests that maybe a lot more people hated Asteroid City than it seemed.
Where to Watch Asteroid City
Wes Anderson’s 11th film stars Scarlett Johansson, Edward Norton, and Jason Schwartzman. It’s available to rent or buy on several platforms.
Asteroid City Has Been Appearing On 2023 “Worst Movie” Lists
It’s been placed among flops like Ghosted and Your Place Or Mine
Asteroid City has been deemed by some as one of the worst movies of the year. Variety‘s controversial inclusion of Asteroid City on its “Worst Movies of 2023” list has received a lot of attention and backlash. On this list, Asteroid City finds itself among cinematic duds like Ana de Armas and Chris Evans’ romance spy comedy, Ghosted, Ashton Kutcher and Reese Witherspoon’s friends-to-lovers romcom, Your Place or Mine, DC’s box office bomb, The Flash, and the fourth and final installment in the Magic Mike franchise, Magic Mike’s Last Dance.
The argument behind including Asteroid City on its “Worst Movies of 2023” list is mostly that Anderson’s “indie kitsch aesthetic” is tired and overdone at this point, and that he needs to put his obsession with “twee” behind him. In other words, Asteroid City contains some of the worst elements of Anderson’s signature style, both aesthetically and narratively, and doesn’t offer anything new to his catalog. It’s not an unfair critique, but it feels more like a personal take than an objective one that would warrant placing Asteroid City on this kind of list.
Asteroid City’s Ratings Don’t Match The Bigger Criticisms
The ratings and reviews don’t seem to align with this ranking
It is surprising that Asteroid City ended up on a “Worst Movies of 2023” list because it doesn’t seem to fit the bill. To each their own, but it does seem a bit extreme to label Asteroid City one of the worst of the year, especially considering the company it’s in. Most of the other films on Variety’s list were box office and critical flops. However, Asteroid City has garnered some decent critical reviews and ratings on multiple databases.
As mentioned, Asteroid City‘s latest score on Rotten Tomatoes is 75% with an average score of 3.4/5, aggregated from 346 critics’ reviews. Asteroid City has also been deemed “generally favorable” by Metacritic with a Metascore of 75/100 from 60 critical reviews. Over on IMDb, Asteroid City holds an average ranking of 6.6/10, and on Letterboxd, Asteroid City is averaging a score of 3.6/5. While numerical scores and ratings don’t tell the whole story behind a film’s public opinion, these ratings certainly maintain a higher average than most of the other films on Variety‘s “Worst Movies of 2023” list.
The reviews for Asteroid City don’t indicate a monumental failure, either. The general consensus across reviews seems to be that while Asteroid City is more likely to appeal to existing Anderson fans rather than recruit new ones, the film is representative of what the auteur does best. This doesn’t stray far from the reasoning given for deeming it one of the worst of the year, but rather than frame Anderson’s distinctive touch in Asteroid City as a shortcoming, most reviews praise his consistency and masterful work.
Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City Doesn’t Deserve The Hate
Asteroid City is neither the best nor worst of the year
Overall, most ratings and reviews of Asteroid City do not align with its placement on any worst movies of the year list. Just because a film isn’t as good as the filmmaker’s previous work, or was even a disappointment, doesn’t necessarily mean it should be listed among the worst films of the year of its release. After all, there’s still a certain level of artistry and craftsmanship that went into the making of the film that’s worth acknowledging. Asteroid City may not have been one of 2023’s best movies, but it certainly wasn’t one of the worst.
Asteroid City
- Director
- Wes Anderson
- Cast
- Tom Hanks , Tilda Swinton , Jason Schwartzman , Scarlett Johansson , Jeffrey Wright , Bryan Cranston , Edward Norton , Adrien Brody , Maya Hawke , Willem Dafoe
Sources: Variety, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic, IMDb, Letterboxd
