It falls to Theron to deliver most of
the serious dialogue in the film, and while she's good at being bad, the movie only gets back up to speed once the action resumes.
The key to appreciating any Wes Anderson
film (memorable efforts as «Rushmore,» «The Royal Tenenbaums»), is to have the ability to either pick up on his clipped and funny
dialogue (usually voiced by actors
in a totally
serious deadpan monotone), or somehow connect with his goofy situations and quirky characters that slip between incredibly believable and ridiculously surreal.