Bottle Rocket

Bottle Rocket. Wes Anderson's first film. Starring a very young Luke and Owen Wilson. I acquired this DVD recently, and question why I had never heard of it. I like the actors and the director, I like quirky comedies, and I'm in touch with movies in general. I wonder how it slipped through my fingers. Margo saw it a long time ago and recommended it, so here we go.

Well, two things become immediately obvious :
This is indeed a Wes Anderson movie
This is one of his early works

Anderson has a style all his own, somehow creating characters and settings independent of time or place. He also has a fondness for the Wilson brothers, as they seem to be in all of his projects. Bottle Rocket is fairly slow going, and is more of a character study than a story. Not all that much happens, but we're given a lot of strange dialogue and interaction. Anderson gives a boutique role to James Caan and manages to get a funny part for Kumar Pallana(playing Kumar), who works his way into each of Anderson's films.

It's a slice of bizarre life in the American southwest, and it's entertaining if you're not expecting a masterpiece. Certainly worth it for Wes Anderson fans. Check it out if you get a chance.