The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou Movie Review 2004

Director Anderson's muddled comedy follows the career of oceanographer Steve Zissou (Murray), famed for his series of pop-culture documentaries (think Jacques Cousteau). Zissou's latest mission is to take revenge on the shark that ate his longtime partner (Cassel). Besides his motley crew (including Dafoe and Gambon), there is Zissou's business partner/wife Eleanor (Huston), nosy reporter Jane (Blanchett), and amiable newcomer Ned (Wilson), who may be Steve's illegitimate son, as well as his archrival, slick Alistair Hennessey (Goldblum). The detached and melancholy Murray had much better luck with Anderson in "The Royal Tenenbaums" and "Rushmore." Here, he appears to be going through the motions as the rest of cast follows along in his wake.

Distribution

Criterion Collection, 210 E. 52nd St., 578 Broadway, New York, NY 10022, Phone: (212)212756-8822, Toll-free: 800-446-2001, URL: http://www.criterionco.com, Remarks: Does not sell directly to consumers

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 118 minutes.
Originally from United States.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Comic Adventure, Go Fish, Revenge, Scuba, Director/Star Teams: W. Anderson & Murray

Screenplay

Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach

Cast

Bill Murray, Owen C. Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum, Michael Gambon, Bud Cort, Seymour Cassel

Cinematography

Robert Yeoman

Director

Wes Anderson

Music

Mark Mothersbaugh, Randall Poster

Other

Pawel Wdowczak, David Moritz, Eugenio Ulissl, Milena Canonero, Mark Friedberg, Marco Trentini, Simona Migliotti

Producer

Wes Anderson, Barry Mendel, Scott Rudin, Buena Vista