Bottle Rocket (1996)

US 92m, Colour
Director: Wes Anderson; Cast: Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, James Caan, Robert Musgrave, Lumi Cavazos

Bottle Rocket follows the misadventures of three friends who plan and execute a series of ridiculously intricate robberies as part of a seventy-five year plan which includes joining forces with “Mr. Henry” – a local entrepreneur and small time crook who also runs a landscaping business. Considering the engagingly eccentric and personal nature of his later films, it is not surprising that Wes Anderson’s first feature – Bottle Rocket contains many of the hallmarks which have come to characterise his unique approach to film making. Most notable are the film’s surreal nature, the use of deadpan humour and the likability, warmth and strangely genuine nature of the oddball characters who have yet to figure out that life can be worth living without taking serious risks (Klaus Ming January 2011).