Everybody knows whatWes Andersonmovies are like. An assortment of TikTok tributes and AI atrocities all reflect the stereotypical hallmarks of Anderson’s style: symmetrical compositions, mannered dialogue, deadpan actors, and a general sense of continental whimsy embodied byAlexandre Desplat’s “Obituary”, which scored the opening scene ofThe French Dispatch. WhileAI art is a scourge, the TikTok trend is harmless; besides, it’s heartening to see a great filmmaker like Anderson get increased attention (which will hopefully help the box office of his upcomingAsteroid City). But it’s a mistake to reduce him to a series of quirks and affectations: it was obvious from his debut,Bottle Rocket, that Anderson runs much deeper than that.
Bottle Rocketwas released in 1996, right in the thick of the ‘90s indie boom. (Heck, one of its taglines was “Reservoir Dorks.”) This was probably one of the few times in Hollywood history where a movie likeBottle Rocketcould have made money, but it did not make money. According toJames L. Brooks, the Oscar-winning filmmaker whohelped produce the film, tepid test screenings and a snub from the Sundance Film Festival took the wind out of its sails, and it grossed a little over a tenth of its $5 million budget. Still,Bottle Rocketwas received warmly by critics and filmmakers alike (no less an authority thanMartin Scorseseconsidered it one of the best films of the ‘90s), and it ended up launching the careers of the two clever young Texans who wrote it: Wes Anderson andOwen Wilson.
‘Bottle Rocket’ Doesn’t Go Full Wes
The plot concerns itself with a pair of amiable crooks trying to pull off modest heists with varying degrees of success. Anthony Adams (Luke Wilson) is a bored rich kid fresh off a voluntary stay in a mental hospital. Luke’s real-life brother Owen plays Anthony’s friend (butnotbrother) Dignan, an innately likable dirtbag with a gift for gab and a fifty-year plan for the future written in a spiral notebook with colored markers. After a couple of practice heists to get their feet wet, they go on the run with a sad-sack getaway driver named Bob Mapplethorpe (Robert Musgrave), seeking out Dignan’s former boss Mr. Henry (a cheerfully unhingedJames Caan) for some full-time employment. But when Anthony falls in love at a motel and mishandles some money, things get a bit more complicated.
RELATED:New ‘Asteroid City’ Character Posters Are Ready To Blast Off
Those whose preconceived notions of Anderson come from parodies riffing onThe Royal TenenbaumsandThe Grand Budapest Hotelmay be surprised byBottle Rocket. Through the films that followed, Anderson would prove himself to be a director of meticulous, even obsessive detail, in the tradition ofStanley KubrickandJacques Tati.Bottle Rocketis no less lovingly crafted, but it’s shaggy and warm in a way that Anderson has never quite revisited: imagine a collaboration betweenRichard LinklaterandThe Big Lebowski-eraCoen Brothers, and you wouldn’t be far off. The sun-dappled West Texas setting is more naturalistic than usual, the dialogue is loose and conversational (if somewhat wordy), and there’s even a bit of handheld shaky cam.
And yet, as tempting as it might be to imagine an alternate universe whereBottle Rocketbecame a sleeper hit and Anderson developed in a completely different direction, it’s not quite as much of an outlier as its reputation suggests. It touches on some of Anderson’s favorite themes, like strained family relationships and upper-class ennui; it features some choice needle drops from the ‘60s, most memorablyLove’s “Alone Again Or” in a mid-movie montage. Another montage earlier in the film, featuring the main characters doing target practice in a field while a jaunty guitar plucks beneath the sound of gunshots, is perhaps the first hint of AndersonquaAnderson. (Their subsequent target is another beautifully droll touch: other criminals rob banks or gas stations, these guys rob bookstores.) One can easily draw a line fromBottle RockettoRushmore, and then fromRushmoreto the rest of Anderson’s filmography.
Owen Wilson Helps Make ‘Bottle Rocket’ A Sweet, Funny Romp
What separatesBottle Rocketfrom the films that followed is less its style and more its tone. Anderson has been accused of being a cinematic confectioner who favors style over substance, which makes it ironic that the movie where his style is most muted is easily his lightest and sweetest. Some of his most outwardly twee movies are also his most melancholy:The Royal Tenenbaumsis a poignant story of repressed emotion and wasted potential, whileThe Grand Budapest Hotelcaps its charming odyssey through genteel interbellum Europe with a gut-punch reminder that World War II destroyed a beautiful old world that will never come back. InBottle Rocket, however, the worst that happens is a mid-movie falling out between Anthony and Dignan; by the end of the movie, most of the main characters seem happy and well-adjusted, even the one who’s in prison.
If it sounds low-stakes, it is, and some viewers may balk at that. But it’s hard to complain too much when Owen Wilson’s guiding you through the experience. In the wrong hands, Dignan could have been an obnoxious, delusional chatterbox; as played by Wilson, however, he’s an extremely likable delusional chatterbox. Wilson, who was Anderson’s college roommate, made his debut here, and his effortlessly affable persona arrived fully formed - complete with his very first “woooow." He bounces from line reading to chilled-out, hilarious line reading, capable of milking laughs from lines that aren’t even jokes. (This writer is particularly obsessed with the way he responds to Anthony’s desert exercise regimen: “that’s good cardiovaaascular.”) Insecurities bristle beneath his low-key exterior in ways that are both poignant (his violent reaction to a betrayal from Anthony) and funny (when Anthony mentions that his sister called him a failure, Dignan responds “what’s she ever accomplished in her life that’s so great?” - mind you, said sister couldn’t be more than ten years old.) Dignan may be a tireless grinder, but Wilson makes it all look so easy.
The same can be said for Anderson throughout his career. His sets have grown ever more elaborate, his shot composition ever more precise, his films striking ever more delicate tonal balances - and yet, he retains complete command of his craft, in a way that inspires legions of imitators and few equals.Bottle Rocketcould have been insubstantial in the hands of a lesser director and/or writer, but Anderson makes it so satisfying through expertly-placed little grace notes: the careful readjustment of a toy soldier, the obvious joy in a woman’s voice when the stranger she fell for at a motel calls her after a few months of pining, the gift of a fast food meal in a prison yard. It’s gentle, it’s lovely, it’s earned, and it’s a great start to a brilliant career.
