WTF Movie of the Week

Imagine a big budget movie, replete with rather good (with one exception) CGI underwater effects, an amazing cast including Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe, Anjelica Huston, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Gambon. And hardly a laugh out loud moment to be had.

Oh, and did I mention that the soundtrack consists of David Bowie songs performed in Portugese? That's the weirdest bit really.

In fact, this movie follows the same pattern set by Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums, which also featured a terrific cast, but the only really funny performance was by Gwyneth Paltrow of all people.

In The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou. Anderson's latest effort, the comedic moments are all stolen by Willem Dafoe, who plays a bizarre German sailor called Klaus, who wears a weird hat, and harbours a father fixation toward Bill Murray's titular Zissou. He's really funny.

The Life Aquatic is about sad sack Murray, playing Steve Zissou, a character very loosely inspired by oceanographer Jacques Cousteau (Cousteau may have invented the radio linked diving helmet, but Zissou first thought of piping dance music through them to keep the divers focussed).

Steve's down on his luck, and scraping together the funds to hunt down the (possibly) mythical Jaguar shark, which he thinks killed his long time partner on their last voyage. Dafoe is his first mate Klaus, aboard his Calypso like vessel, the Belafonte.

Owen plays Ned Plimpton, who may or may not be Steve's long lost son, Huston is his estranged wife (and also the ex wife of his arch oceanographic rival played by Goldblum, who for the record, is "part gay"), Blanchett is a pregnant reporter who everyone forms an attachment to.

The damned movie should have been hilarious, but somehow it isn't.

It looks great though, and has some fantastic shots, like the Belafonte crew emerging from the water with their matching wetsuits & glock handguns (preceded by the 3 legged dog, Cody, that they have inherited) on their way to rescue the "bond company stooge" from Filipino (shades of Sir Peter Blake) pirates.

So I dunno, take a look if it comes your way, but don't bother hunting it down.