David O'ConnellBottle Rocket
February 17th 2009 22:59
When Wes Anderson began his idiosyncratic journey as a filmmaker of note with unconventional drama/comedy Bottle Rocket (1996), a distinctive, soon to be recognisable template was being set. With friend Owen Wilson as his co-writer he won critics over with a loose, oddball film based around the misadventures of a couple of slightly unhinged, eccentric, low-level criminals who view their life as an escapade without rational pause for consequences.
Anthony Adams (Luke Wilson) has just been released from self-imposed psychiatric care in a hospital. His partner in crime and best friend, Dignan (Owen Wilson), waits with his elaborate, grandiose plans of a life mapped out years in advance. It's hard to take Dignan seriously, and it's clear nobody else does either: scatterbrained and meticulous in the same conversation, a likeable loose cannon, he bears a notable resemblance - in a less-developed form - to a later Anderson creation for Wilson - Francis Whitman in 2007's The Darjeeling Limited.
Together they steal a few small prizes, before enlisting the aid of a getaway driver Bob Maplethorpe (Robert Musgrave) and hilariously robbing a bookstore at night. They decide to lie low with their paltry takings in a remote motel where Bob frets about the arrest of his brother, Dignan delights in the delirious thrill of their crime, whilst Anthony falls in love with a Paraguayan cleaner, Inez (Lumi Cavazos), who speaks barely a word of English.
For different reasons their plans for progression through the ranks of criminal anonymity to the big time loses focus. At loggerheads with one another's objectives they stray back to separate lives in the city before a final plan is hatched to reunite their cause and pull off the perfect heist with the backing of Dignan's former employer Mr. Henry (James Caan). In keeping with Anderson's portrait of these lovable losers, nothing will go according to plan, and in the sketchy, carefree manner that has characterised his work from the opening scenes of this noteworthy debut, he'll end up endearing these people to us with a wry, comedic invention that's uniquely his own.
The Wilson brothers are a perfect fit, ironically the sanitised Anthony given the more lucid overview of the world whilst the free-spirited Dignan is like a thousands ideas colliding in a firework display of inventive failure.
Though erratic and easily distracted, this is another Anderson world recognisable by its oddballs whose ineptness is worn like a badge of honour, and even if these aren't fleshed out with the same detail and level of consistency as his later films, there's much to enjoy with this promising beginning for one of the world's most enigmatic independant directors. And one of the few to skillfully juggle scenes with applicable source music too. It's just a shame that he and Wilson only continued working together as screenwriters twice more in a partnership that would flourish with their true breakthrough, Rushmore (1998) and later with The Royal Tenembaums (2001).
Anthony Adams (Luke Wilson) has just been released from self-imposed psychiatric care in a hospital. His partner in crime and best friend, Dignan (Owen Wilson), waits with his elaborate, grandiose plans of a life mapped out years in advance. It's hard to take Dignan seriously, and it's clear nobody else does either: scatterbrained and meticulous in the same conversation, a likeable loose cannon, he bears a notable resemblance - in a less-developed form - to a later Anderson creation for Wilson - Francis Whitman in 2007's The Darjeeling Limited.
Together they steal a few small prizes, before enlisting the aid of a getaway driver Bob Maplethorpe (Robert Musgrave) and hilariously robbing a bookstore at night. They decide to lie low with their paltry takings in a remote motel where Bob frets about the arrest of his brother, Dignan delights in the delirious thrill of their crime, whilst Anthony falls in love with a Paraguayan cleaner, Inez (Lumi Cavazos), who speaks barely a word of English.
Anthony (Luke Wilson) with Dignan (Owen Wilson)
For different reasons their plans for progression through the ranks of criminal anonymity to the big time loses focus. At loggerheads with one another's objectives they stray back to separate lives in the city before a final plan is hatched to reunite their cause and pull off the perfect heist with the backing of Dignan's former employer Mr. Henry (James Caan). In keeping with Anderson's portrait of these lovable losers, nothing will go according to plan, and in the sketchy, carefree manner that has characterised his work from the opening scenes of this noteworthy debut, he'll end up endearing these people to us with a wry, comedic invention that's uniquely his own.
The Wilson brothers are a perfect fit, ironically the sanitised Anthony given the more lucid overview of the world whilst the free-spirited Dignan is like a thousands ideas colliding in a firework display of inventive failure.
Anthony with Inez (Lumi Cavazos)
Though erratic and easily distracted, this is another Anderson world recognisable by its oddballs whose ineptness is worn like a badge of honour, and even if these aren't fleshed out with the same detail and level of consistency as his later films, there's much to enjoy with this promising beginning for one of the world's most enigmatic independant directors. And one of the few to skillfully juggle scenes with applicable source music too. It's just a shame that he and Wilson only continued working together as screenwriters twice more in a partnership that would flourish with their true breakthrough, Rushmore (1998) and later with The Royal Tenembaums (2001).
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Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Great little review and I must admit that I've never gotten around to seeing this, although Rushmore is up there as one of my favourite films ever.
Off to the DVD shop, methinks.
Comment by Cibbuano
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
haven't seen all of this, just fragments..
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
You should give the whole thing a chance Cibby, it does get bogged down a little in the middle but has such a strong beginning and ending.
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic