Spoiler: this movie is not about a tea shortage

Any number of clichéd synonyms popped in my mind watching The Darjeeling Limited last night: self-reverential, self-indulgent, masturbatory. Every single shot in the movie is framed and blocked in such a stylized way that it's impossible to not notice it, and the man makes an art form of the forced plot point. In Anderson's movies, logical human behavior takes a backseat to style, plot twists and witticisms. Actually, you're lucky if logic is in the backseat; it's usually in the trunk, bound and gagged.

But for most of the movie last night, I found that I not only didn't care, I enjoyed it. I found myself shrugging off the pointless cobra purchase, the non sequitur shoeshine and massive set of matching luggage because the plot, personalities and metaphors that they brought along were enjoyable enough to let it go. I did get a little frustrated that a beautiful story was so often sacrificed for Anderson's obsession with his own style, but for the most part, it was really enjoyable. Maybe it was because I've stopped expecting a solid plot from a Wes Anderson film, but I just sat back and took in the scenery instead of picking at the story.

Okay, okay...so I still picked at the story a bit, not to mention some of the more over-the-top stylisms, and this is what I picked at (spoilers ahead):

• The trip to visit the brothers' mother felt totally unnecessary to me. It didn't add to the story and just made the film drag. Granted, it set up that fantatic final scene with the brothers literally and symbolically getting rid of their baggage as they ran to the train, but otherwise, that entire section of the movie seemed to exist only to give Angelica Huston a part in the film.
• After spending a good deal of the film setting up the flashback to the afternoon of their father's funeral, the actual scene was filled with illogic that was too hard to shrug off, especially considering the weight the foreshadowing had given it.
  
• Some of the little stylisms were just so loud they drowned out what was around them: Natalie Portman's toothpick, the omnipresent iPod, the over-used shot of the brothers crowded together unnecessarily...these were the things that made me feel a little impatient with the movie.

But there was a lot that I loved:

• The end scene that I already mentioned
• The themes of family and spirituality, which I'm always a sucker for, and which the guy next to me, intent on seeing a hilarious Wes Anderson movie, laughed at the entire time.
• The absolutely brilliant exchange in the prologue*, Hotel Chevalier, which I'm typing here from memory:

  Her: Can we still be friends?
  Him: I promise you I will never, ever think of you as a friend.
  Her: If we fuck, it'll make me feel like shit.
  Him: I'm okay with that.

• Wes Anderson's insistence on framing every single shot in a considered style can be annoying, but the annoyances are outweighed by the stunning by about five to one.
  

Blame an indoors Sunday for my rambling on this one. But feel free (and encouraged) to leave your thoughts in the comments.

* I can't believe that they advertise this as a separate feature that they're showing "specially" along with the film. One of the clinching, great scenes of The Darjeeling Limited is when the bit of dialog in the "short" is quoted in the end. If they didn't show the short before the film, that scene wouldn't have half it's power. It's a prologue, not a separate, special feature. I can't imagine this film without it, and my guess is it will never be shown without it.