Quick Hotel Love: BOTTLE ROCKET

Of all the directors that are making movies today, notable ones at least, I don't know that I am as indifferent about any of them as much as I am about Wes Anderson. Not because I don't lke his movies, I do, but because none of them have ever been one of those movies that just sticks with me, although I've yet to take a ride on The Darjeeling Limited so that one might resonate differently. After watching Bottle Rocket I can say that I still think his movies are well done, but that I still just don't care.

Bottle Rocket follows Anthony (played by the young and looking EXACTLY like my friend Brandon Luke Wilson) out of the mental hospital/resort and into a life of supposed crime with his far more insane buddy Dignan (a short haired version of Owen Wilson). While their first crime is a small time robbery of a book store, Dignan's plans go much higher and involve working for Mr. Henry, owner of the Lawn Wranglers and Dignan's crime boss hero. While on the lam for their book store crime, Andrew meets Inez, a pretty, Spanish hotel maid, and falls in love and into a story line that doesn't really go anywhere. Oh, and there's some store bought fireworks...aka bottle rockets.

Like all Wes Anderson films, Bottle Rocket is charming and funny in ways that movies made by anyone else just can not achieve. His humor is sharper than most, his visual style is noticeably his own, and his characters have a sort of simple depth to them making them easy to follow through their story without getting tied up in their baggage.

Visually, like I said before, Anderson's style is unique and it plays really obviously in most of his movies, except for Bottle Rocket. The style is there indefinitely, but it feels much more down played to the point where it just feels like it was filmed by a person who knows how to nicely shoot a story. It feels under developed in a good way, since with his other movies the style feels almost over the top to the point where I'm almost annoyed with it, but not quite. It's the same with Quentin Tarantino. The style is great, and it screams "Yup, you're watching a Tarantino film" it's just kind of become a parody of itself over time and while I love my over the top stuff, seeing the Anderson-lite style in Bottle Rocket was refreshing.

The Wilson brothers stepped up to the plate and knocked their careers out of the park, making both of the actors' first film a solid foundation for their upcoming fame. They were what carried Bottle Rocket, but they were surrounded by supporting talent who brought it home. Plus it never really hurts to have James Caan show up to tell you your brother he's a cocksucker.

When I said earlier that "I just don't care" I just mean that even though I liked this movie, and all his other movies, putting Wes Anderson's name on it does nothing more than assure me that it's going to be a good movie. It doesn't tell me it's a movie I'll fall in love with or that I'll even more than just "like it", but knowing that it will be good is enough to get me to the theater so you'll catch me at the Fantastic Mr. Fox in a few weeks. Well told story, sharp dialogue, fun cast of characters.

4 stars

PS. Rod, I'm sorry I don't share your undying and unconditional love for Wes. He makes good stuff, really.

Comments

[Aaron]

I also try to watch older movies, and my favorite out of my time era would have to be "Vertigo", if you havnt seen it you should definitely check it out. Really nice review! and

[Will LeBlanc]

I have seen Vertigo and I did it a lot for the camera innovations Hitchcock presented. But my favorite of his (that I've seen at least) is called Rope. It all takes place in one 3 room apartment. It's really well put together, and there's only 3 (don't quote me on that, it may be 1 or 2 more) visible cuts in the whole thing, the rest are hidden. Thanks for posting!