Timing can be everything. The Phoenician Scheme — now playing at Robinson Film Center — easily comes across as an immediate political and social commentary. But when you consider Wes Anderson couldn’t have made the movie in the past six months, you realize it’s more Wes being Wes, with a heavy dose of conscience added in.

In the film, Benicio Del Toro plays the deathly and unscrupulous businessman Zsa-zsa Korda. He calls on his only daughter, Liesl — a nun, to be his sole heir, and they embark on a mission to save his latest business venture. Along they way, the fall prey to scheming business partners, assassins and terrorists.

But while the plot centers on oligarchs and global business and politics, the subtext dives into dysfunctional family life, religion and guilt, and the afterlife. And it does it all in a fast-paced, sometimes outlandish 110 minutes.

Anderson leans into many of the storytelling mechanisms he has become know for, including the characters coming together for a common purpose in the end and learning how to accept, if not actually forgive, each other. And he does it will a large cast of characters, including a couple of his favorites: Bill Murray and Brian Cranston.

If current events have you looking for an escape, and maybe a good laugh or two along the way, don’t miss The Phoenician Scheme.

- Scott “Scooter” Anderson, Scooter Anderson Communications