Bottle Rocket by Wes Anderson (1996)

It took me a while to warm to the theme of this movie, which is about a bunch of screwballs trying to pursue a career in crime.  It is of course a comedy.  Owen Wilson is Dignan who has grandiose plans literally projecting out 50 years and outlined neatly in a notebook, but is basically clueless.  Luke Wilson is Anthony who is in real life Owen's brother but in the film no relation.  Robert Musgrave is Robert Mapplethorpe or Rob as he is known.*  His family seems to be quite well off traveling in the Far East and has two brothers who pick on him.  One wonders what his parents do for their money, but they are nowhere to be seen, having left the home in the custody of the brothers.  

*Exactly why they chose this name for this character that is the same as the famous gay photographer, is never revealed either in the film or in the commentary.

They are unusually methodical and do a practice run robbing Anthony's parent's house.  Then they rob a bookstore, which is successful and they go off to hide out at a motel in the desert, a dreary looking place with a pool.  At the pool Anthony falls for a young senorita who is working as a hotel maid.  And even though they scarcely know each other's language they hit it off.  Meanwhile Rob takes off with their transportation.  Clearly these guys are not ready for prime time and you can kind of see where this film is going, and it does, but I'm not going to spoil it for you.

It was an entertaining film once you get past the seemingly unlikely event that everyone would follow Dignan who is lovable but clearly a raving idiot. Well they are all idiots to varying degrees: a sort of three stooges of crime.   Not the best or most even comedy I have ever seen, but it does kind of come together in the end.  It was Wes Anderson's first feature film which he co-wrote with Owen Wilson.  It perhaps isn't the best of his films, but it has led to everything that has come after, such as "Rushmore", "The Royal Tennenbaums", "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou", and most recently "the Hotel Budapest".  It was because I've come to like Wes Anderson's offbeat style of humor that I sought this one out.