Grand Bemusing Hotel

Patrick Reasonover SmashCut Talk

I’d sum this film up in one word “bemusing.”

I wasn’t amused, nor did I laugh out loud, nor did I feel moved – it was one long state of bemusement, which I define as amusement but more cutesy.

I did go the distance, the only one of the Oscars Best Picture noms I’ve seen.  I watched it on a plane and had no erstwhile bed to retreat too.  I’m as anti-hipster as the next Alabama guy, but I admit I actually liked it.  I don’t really see bemusement as the accomplishment of a Best Picture.

My advice to Mr. Anderson, which I’m sure he needs like a headache, is more Willem Dafoe.

  • Andrew Leigh

    Ah. One of my former newspaper editors would have your head on a platter for using “bemusement” that way. As the dictionary puts it, bemuse actually means “puzzle, confuse or bewilder.” Although many use it the way you did — as a cross between “amuse” and “bewilder.” Or as a milder form of “amused.” It’s enough to make one feel, er, bemused.