There are few finer movies available for rental at your local video store than Bottle Rocket, the first effort from the writing team of Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson, who went on to more critical acclaim with Rushmore and The Royal Tennenbaums.
The basic plot is simple: disaffected twenty somethings trying to find their place in the world go on a couple of half-assed crime sprees. It's in the details that Bottle Rocket sets itself apart. The main characters are Anthony, played by Luke Wilson, and Dignan, played by Owen Wilson. They are instantly likeable guys, Dignan playing the role of the pseudo-leader on their missions, while Anthony is along simply to look out for his friend.
There are great side characters in this movie. A gangster named Applejack, a would-be safe cracker named Cumar, a gangster played wonderfully by James Caan. They're all brilliantly conceived and acted.
The movie is wonderfully written and is based on a ten minute short put together by Wilson and Anderson after they left the University of Texas. It's not many film makers these days who can get a short turned into a full length feature. What sets these two apart is their ability to create characters that the audience loves, even if they are doing bad things on screen.
To me, the essence of the movie is summed up by Dignan, when the heist has gone wrong, and he knows he has to take the fall for his friends.
"They'll never catch me, Anthony, I'm fucking innocent."
And he is.
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