Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2515 in DVD
• Released on: 1998-12-22
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 91 minutes

Amazon.com
This quietly daffy comedy should have been an indie hit, but ended up ignored by audiences. Too bad; it's a wonderfully sustained caper movie about friends whose career choice is all wrong. Low-key Anthony (Luke Wilson) and high-strung Dignan (Owen C. Wilson--the two actors are brothers) are brought into a life of crime by Dignan's ambition to be a small-time thief. After a few amusingly laid-back trial burglaries, they (and a third buddy) find themselves over their heads when they hook up with an experienced crime boss (James Caan). Because this movie is so relentlessly deadpan, you really have to be dialed in to its brand of humor--but once there, Bottle Rocket shoots off plenty of sparks. Above all, Owen Wilson's portrayal of Dignan is a terrifically original comic creation; Dignan is so sincerely focused on his goals that he can't see how completely absurd his ideas are. Owen Wilson, who went on to supply similarly knuckle-headed performances in Armageddon and Permanent Midnight, wrote the screenplay with director Wes Anderson. --Robert Horton

From The New Yorker
Wes Anderson's début film, about three argumentative friends who get together for some petty robberies, meanders pleasantly, like a road movie, with a seventies-style, anything-goes offhandedness that whisks the audience through the rough spots. But though a sweet spirit informs its characters' larcenous actions, the movie never really sets off any fireworks. Owen C. Wilson (who co-wrote the script with Anderson) is especially good as the tense, anarchic leader of the trio-his soldierly handsomeness suggests a blond Montgomery Clift. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Bottle Rocket - A Early Wes Anderson Hit
A little rough around the edges - not as refined or clever as some recent Anderson movies, but definitely a Anderson film. I recommend it for any fans...

My Favorite Film
"Why is that tape on your nose?" "Exactly!" Bottle Rocket seems to be a love it or hate it flick based on all the folks I've discussed the film with. This is a simple movie and a very funny one as long as you can appreciate humor delivered in the dialouge. To summarize it in one word, I go with "refreshing".

I love this movie so much that I actually use it as an experiment with new acquaintances. I'll let them borrow it and await their feedback. If they love it, I know there's a mutual appreciation for top-notch humor. If they don't, well I just don't understand their train of thought. I'm embarrassed to say how many times I've watched this but I ALWAYS catch something I had not noticed before! Martin Scorsese listed Bottle Rocket as the 7th best film of the 1990's. That's the decade, folks, not the year. Need I say more?

Why did the movie makers underplay the comedy theme in this movie ? It could have been so much better.
It's a movie about 3 loonies (people who have had mental problems and have been in and out of asylums) trying to be super thieves. They hatch out a plan to rob a store, end up stealing some petty cash and a bunch of books. They behave like they are big criminals and think its best for them to be on the run as they must be wanted by the police when the truth is no one cares about them. So the fun and joke is in that. Its kind of a situational comedy but it could have been a such a blast out comedy if the comedy angle had been taken up full swing. Instead of that the movie tries to be a sad love story, and a poignant character portrait in between the comedy bits. And also the directors and screen writes try to underplay the movie. They underplay the comedy - which is the very essential that this movie could have done a lot with. The movie makes makes try to be so understated and controlled when they could have gone all out at the comedy angle and it would have been hilarious. Instead we get a hotch potch part comedy, part poignant, and part love story. Luke Wilson stars in this film. He went on to star in the hilarious ultra laugh riot film "Idiocracy" a comedy by director Mike Judge - of "office space" fame.

regards, Vikram