"Bottle Rocket" (1996) - Movie Review

The front running characters in “Bottle Rocket” are so aimless, stupid, crazy and irresponsible that we ourselves take a vacation from us in getting in an adventure these guys aim, especially Dignan (Owen C. Wilson). After seeing “Rushmore”, “The Royal Tennenbaums” and the impressive “The Darjeeling Limited” of Wes Anderson and his partner Owen C. Wilson, I wanted to see where it all started. And it is interesting to investigate on how it developed. How these two along with Luke Wilson formed a fraternity for themselves in a novel deadpan serious comedy and drama of invention into the screens of Hollywood.

There are no deep analysis of the back ground of Dignan and Anthony Adams (Luke Wilson). We just know that they are friends and Anthony checks himself out from “nut house” as they describe it. Dignan does not understand that Anthony is checking himself out and enthusiastically waits at the gates for his friend to do the escape. He is like a kid inspired by chase/action/heist movies and instead of playing with his fellow friends (which actually would have been even weirder), he plans and believes to do it meticulously in some uncommon places (like a bookstore). He lays out seventy five year plan for him and Anthony. Then they burgle a house which we later realize is Anthony’s family house. Dignan recruits Bob (Robert Musgrave). So you can think how Bob is. But we get a slight back ground of who is, in terms of family and house. He is a rich kid bullied big time by his brother John (Andrew Wilson). He is jobless which goes without saying. While he wants to jump in the adventure Dignan promises, he is also caught up by the sense of real life.

Anthony explains to one character that one fine day he decided to not see any of the people again and hence checked voluntarily in to mental hospital. He says he was exhausted to his sister Grace (Shea Fowler). She says that he never worked in his whole life. Quite right. Anthony is caught up with the ring of Dignan’s fantasy plans and also manages to blindly fall in love with the pleasant and friendly house keeper of the motel they stay, Inez (Lumi Cavazos). The film can be as bland as it can be and yet there is something going on the screen especially with the blind confidence of Dignan showed by Owen. He is so mixed up and his dedication is insane that we have a slight fear of this character’s next step. They play with guns and still we know they are harmless.

The film does not offer any concrete plot but I know what to expect of Anderson’s movie. He develops the world as I have defined in “The Darjeeling Limited” and plays it around and within that. It was surprising to see couple of police cars which looked out of place in the movie. That is the extremity of strange universe Anderson creates. There is nothing to plot upon or discuss on the dead pan emotions of almost every character.

But in a way I was glad it was aimless and stupid. There might be an empathy for these characters who quite honestly does not know where they are headed. Dignan despite being the formulating leader of the 75 year plan for them is the clueless person of all. Anthony actually seems to be sane but in reality he is in battle with the reality and commitment towards his friendship with Dignan. Otherwise you do not see some one getting out of mental asylum sought an adventure game devised by his friend.

Anderson’s slow motion is scarcely used as it is the first movie while the songs say their selection of thematic elements to the film. The film did not fare well in the box office which is of no surprise. It is a clear cut independent movie and quite evident that couple of talented artists trying to find their right frequency.

“Bottle Rocket” does its job for the first timers Anderson and the Wilson brothers. It is bland, flat and it turns out the final parody/homage of heist scene into a hysterical eruption of laughter. And when the out of place Kumar (Kumar Pallan) says “I blew it man”, that is the high point of comedy. That is where the film takes it tuning on. In a way we do not expect them to perform the big heist, as we might know the result. Even after we know that they are going to screw up, the way they screw up is orchestrated with randomness. It is a thrilling and entertaining moments of failure beating itself in stupidity and idiocy.