Outside of the “what… are they doing here?” reaction for a few of the characters when you first see who’s playing them, I wouldn’t say it detracts too hard from the story. It’s a story by an artist, about his art, and thus it’s a little navel gazey, but I thought it still made for a good narrative.
I loved Grand Budapest but skipped French a dispatch because I had heard similar experiences about it.
The star-studded cast is actually one of the reasons I’m kinda “meh” on seeing it. It feels gimmicky and I worry there isn’t much story there.
Outside of the “what… are they doing here?” reaction for a few of the characters when you first see who’s playing them, I wouldn’t say it detracts too hard from the story. It’s a story by an artist, about his art, and thus it’s a little navel gazey, but I thought it still made for a good narrative.