Bottle Rocket (1996)

“Here are just a few of the key ingredients: dynamite, pole vaulting, laughing gas, choppers – can you see how incredible this is going to be? – hang gliding, come on!” – Dignan

Number of Times Seen – 1 (5 May 2020)

Brief Synopsis – A small group of friends plan a simple robbery which doesn’t go as they plan.

My Take on it – This is a film that I have avoided for many years since I’ve never been a fan of Wes Anderson’s film making style.

I should have listened to my instinct because I did not enjoy this at all.

It’s definitely possible to see a pattern with how he presents his films and even in his debut, it all seems the same.

The characters are presented in a far too eccentric manner that makes it very difficult to care about them largely due to the fact that none of them are very likeable.

The story line itself jumps around a bit too much and that also makes things very unbalanced.

Both Luke and Owen Wilson are very talented actors, but they aren’t able to make these characters more sympathetic in what they do.

The story itself gets far too esoteric and existential along the way and they wish for us to infer so much about things while also trying to make the story feel even grander than it truly is.

The best character is played by James Caan who is quite fun in this film even if he too goes a bit overboard a few times.

The film is paced in a very strange way because it constantly speeds up and slows down at seemingly random intervals.

Bottom Line – Anderson’s directorial debut that doesn’t work at all. The characters are all far too eccentric and the storyline jumps around too much. The Wilson brothers are both very talented actors, but neither finds a way to make their characters likeable in any way. The story gets a bit too esoteric and existential along the way that tries to give things more grandeur than really exists. Caan has a fun role here, but even his character goes overboard at certain points. The pacing is weird and keeps speeding up and slowing down at strange intervals.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – After the movie bombed at the box-office, Owen Wilson seriously considered joining the Marines, convinced that acting held no future for him. (From IMDB)

Rating – Razzie Worthy (3/10)