Review: The Grand Budapest Hotel

I have to say, I didn’t quite know what to expect with this one.  I will say…I was pleasantly entertained and surprised.

Having traveled extensively throughout my lifetime, I have resided in many hotels around the world and often wondered what happens in the lives of employees that brought them to that particular hotel.  Why they continue to work there?  Does it bring them joy or do they not have a choice?

In 1968, The Grand Budapest Hotel  was on the down slope of its once beautiful glory, when a Young Writer (Jude Law) has a chance meeting with  Zero Moustafa, the lobby boy who becomes the hotel’s original concierge Gustave H (Ralph Fiennes) most trusted friend.

Over dinner,  Zero recounts the adventures of Gustave H between the first and second World Wars, while he was in employ at The Grand Budapest Hotel.  Boasting an all-star cast including F. Murray  Abraham, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel, Willem Dafoe, Adrain Brody, Jeff Goldblum and Jude Law, this Wes Anderson written, produced and directed fantasy ride is based on the writings of Stefan Zweig.

It is beautifully shot with very creative uses of linear images and the humor is dry yet hysterically funny.  My favorite quote is when Gustave H describes how his last time of seeing Madame D…saying she was “shaking a like a shitting dog”.

The Grand Budapest Hotel is in theatres now.