Step through the doors of The Grand Budapest Hotel and you are in for a five-star treat
Step through the doors of The Grand Budapest Hotel and you are in for a five-star treat. Set in a deluxe spa hotel occupying an imaginary corner of Central Europe between the wars, writer-director Wes Anderson's wonderful film pampers the viewer with its sumptuous visual delights - every scene is like a work of art - sparkling dialogue and absurdly enjoyable comic intrigue.
It also offers an exquisitely funny lead performance from Ralph Fiennes as the dapper concierge who presides over the hotel with unflappable aplomb, even when he and his lobby boy (Tony Revolori) are thrust into a perilous caper involving murder, art theft and a staggeringly large family fortune.
It's Fiennes' film all the way, but there is also a charming rogues' gallery of familiar faces in support, including Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Adrien Brody, Jude Law, Edward Norton, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray and Tilda Swinton, buried under some excellent make-up effects.
