If you enjoyed 'The Life Aquatic' (or ever wondered why Tim and Mike wear yellow jumpsuits) why not go back to where it all started?
"On the run from Johnny Law ... ain't no trip to Cleveland"
'Bottle Rocket' is the story of three men all searching for something (whether they know it or not). Anthony (Luke Wilson) is a lost soul who has just checked himself out of a mental institution where he's been recuperating from 'exhaustion'. Dignan (Owen Wilson) doesn't realise it's a voluntary facility and so Anthony, not wanting to ruin his friend's elaborate escape plan, asks permission to climb down bed sheets from his first floor room (his doctor pulling them up for him after he's gone). With Anthony safely out of the nut house the friends are now ready to embark on Dignan's substantially more elaborate seventy-five year plan, consisting of practise raids, goals, targets and drawn with felt tips, that will lead inexorably to the boys becoming master criminals. They start by robbing Anthony's parents' house (without taking any actual valuables), but the jobs are going to get bigger and they'll need a getaway driver. After Bob's (Robert Musgrave) successful interview (mostly successful because, unlike Anthony and Dignan, Bob owns a car) the gang are ready to start their crime spree – at the local bookstore. What follows is a tale of romance, loyalty and friendship (with a backdrop of the most inept heist in cinema history).
Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson met in a playwriting course at the University of Texas, their mutual love of films and the absurd led them to strike up a filmmaking partnership, which has produced some modern American classics. 'Rushmore' and 'The Royal Tenenbaums' have a visual style and intelligence which places them far above the standard Hollywood fare which overruns our multiplexes. Back in the early nineties Wilson and Anderson had a full length script that they couldn't get made and so produced a thirteen minute black and white short, which got them a showing at Sundance, caught the eye of producers Polly Platt and James L Brooks and eventually got them a $7,000 000 budget and the chance to make a movie. The result is 'Bottle Rocket' a ninety minute labour of love, which marks the debut for director Anderson, writers Anderson and Wilson as well as Luke and Owen's first acting job.
Like 'Rushmore' and the more famous 'The Royal Tenenbaums', 'Bottle Rocket' is not a film centred on plot. As far as story goes the robberies are fairly unimportant. The film is really about Dignan's desperate desire for respect (expressed through his childish dreams of becoming an outlaw) how this impacts the relationship with his best friend Anthony (who only enters a life of crime to make his friend’s dreams come true), and on the life of the ineffectual Bob. Anthony only finds happiness when on the run (although technically the cops don't appear to be chasing them) as it is in the refuge of a roadside Motel that Anthony meets and immediately falls in love with Inez (Lumi Cavazos) despite being unable to speak a word of Spanish. Bob's desire to enter the criminal world is seemingly motivated by his desire to be in 'a gang' and perhaps to get away from his bullying older brother Future man (played by Luke and Owen's bullying older brother Andrew). Wilson and Anderson write films about human relationships and 'Bottle Rocket' is no exception, it is full of faith that despite our flaws the human race is essentially good and the ties that bind us are greater than that which would try and tear us apart. It is a tale of love, friendship and loyalty (with a fair amount of stupidity thrown in).
The comedy comes largely from the witty and fast paced dialogue. It is eminently obvious that Anderson and Wilson had taken a play writing course before creating this screenplay. Rather than focusing on visual humour the jokes are subtle and have their roots in the great traditions of comedy. Dignan as a character is unable to see himself as ridiculous, although it is completely obvious to those around him and to us as an audience. This is not to say the subtlety of the humour will be to everyone's taste. As an example, would you find it funny if when talking through an escape route and discussing the possibility of being a chased (even though it was unlikely to happen) a character said he was just being "hypocritical"? If not, then you might not laugh much at this film. There is the odd piece of more visual humour (usually involving someone getting beaten up in the back of a shot) but generally the laughs are relatively highbrow. It is a further credit to the warmth of the film that although the central character in the film is an idiot and his two gang members and so obviously flawed and incapable, you still care about them enormously and desperately want them too succeed.
You can't help but wonder if there is a little of Dignan in Owen Wilson, he did write this part for himself. A little like Dignan, Wilson, despite his flaws (most notable his lack of leading man good looks), has bowled over his audience (in the form of Hollywood) and become a movie star. Watching his performance here it is not hard to see why. Dignan is an overgrown twelve-year-old with ADD, he is petulant, oversensitive and completely self-involved; but Wilson has such charm he makes him completely loveable. Owen Wilson just has that ability, to deliver dialogue and make it sound like he thought of it on the spot, he can make anything funny and has enormous screen charisma. What helps his performance further is the screen time he shares with his brother Luke; they talk over each other and around each other and have a chemistry which you probably don’t find very often outside siblings. It is a relationship repeated in the 'The Royal Tenenbaums' in which their roles are staggeringly similar. As far as Luke’s performance goes, he displays the sensitivity he has brought to every role since this film. Luke Wilson can perform head over heels in love like no one else and as Anthony the charismatic but naïve romantic provides the perfect foil for Owen's wise ass, vulnerable loser. The supporting cast is competent and unusual. Lumi Cavazos provides an enigmatic but appealing turn as the object of Anthony's affection and Shea Fowler a comically precautious performance as Anthony's younger sister Grace (who is probably the most adult character in the film). The only star (when the film was made) involved is James Caan, who's character 'Mr Henry' appears so late it is little more than a cameo. Mr Henry is Dignan's hero; unsurprisingly he is sleazy and unscrupulous but persuasive, everything an overgrown teenager would aspire to be. Caan pulls it off effortlessly.
What is really appealing about Wes Anderson as a director is his ability to make the mundane magical. He seems obsessed with the everyday, with the small objects that make up the fabric of our lives. In all his films there are countless close-ups of small items and Anderson makes them truly beautiful. What pervades is a sense of nostalgia (though the film isn't set in the past) Anderson filled the films with objects and props made between 1975 and 1979 so it would have an air of his and Wilson's childhood. Anderson uses swift cuts, close ups and unusually framed shots to create a film that is visually exciting, unusual and striking. The attention to detail is reflected across the film in props, locations and the casting of even the smallest roles Anderson creates a film that screams quality (never showing its low budget) and gels effortlessly. The costumes are geeky, the cars are vintage, the script can be pretentious and the cast is full of misfits but the end product is achingly cool and this is testament to Anderson's sense of style.
What further heightens the film's air of chic is the brilliantly chosen soundtrack. In all three Anderson and Wilson films the soundtracks have been pivotal to the success of the final product (the opening use of 'Hey Jude' in 'The Royal Tenenbaums' the captivating 'Oh Yoko' in 'Rushmore'). Though the soundtrack in 'Bottle Rocket' is less extensive than in the later films it is equally as triumphant and as well as the unusual but brilliant choice of a Proclaimers song contains the obligatory Anderson/Wilson choice of a Rolling Stones track. What further links the three films musically is Mark Mothersbaugh whose unusual and fast paced jazz score provides the perfect accompaniment to Anderson's visuals. These are the sort of films which urge you to buy the soundtrack, where music really helps to create the essence of a film.
I realise I have talked about Anderson and Wilson's two later films extensively when telling you about 'Bottle Rocket'; this is because they're really an unofficial trilogy. Like Kevin Smith's Jersey Trilogy these films are not joined by plot or characters (and feature the same actors playing different roles) but they are intrinsically linked. The films take place in the same universe, just slightly different from our own. It is a more intelligent and stylish world, one with a feeling of innocence and wistfulness and a wry sense of humour. It's a world I wish I lived in…