Bottle Rocket

When I was in grade school and high school, I would buy all sorts of magazines related to films. They were expensive, especially for someone who had an average food allowance but I managed to buy a few foreign magazines such as Entertainment Weekly, Premiere and Empire magazines as well as the underrated Glitter magazine, a local one.

That's where I found this film that they called "an indie gem": Bottle Rocket. There are three things that attracted me to this film. 1) The stars were brothers (Owen and Luke Wilson); 2) I like bottle rockets; and 3) I felt like I was the only one who knew about it.

I scoured my local video rental place, the last one that I haven't been banned from, and surpisingly found it on Laser Disc. Not surprisingly, looking at the card, it showed that nobody has rented it.

I half expected bottle rockets and to tell you the truth, I was sligtly disappointed that there weren't any.

But the story was good, and its pace was very different from the usual films I used to watch.

Briefly, it's about three friends (The Wilsons plus Ned Dowd) whose mundane lives bring them to finding a bit of adventure by becoming criminals. Owen Wilson is the star of the film and his nose has never been as prominent. I think I spent half an hour just thinking how this guy had the guts to be on film with that grotesque nose.

The film was very well done and funny at times but its significance is not how good the film was, but what it did to those who were part of it.

This film launched three careers, particularly: Owen and Luke Wilson, and director Wes Anderson.

We all know how things have turned out for Owen Wilson, who has headlined some of the best comedies in recent years such as Zoolander and The Wedding Crashers.

Luke is probably two levels below Owen, as he has become the prennial "boyfriend" in female-oriented flicks. Other than Old School where he portrayed The Godfather, nothing seems to be of note but at the same time, he doesn't seem to be trying either.

Wes Anderson on the other hand has become a respected director despite the limited resumé. His latest one is The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and it has been getting a lot of great reviews.

Dignan, Owen Wilson's character, had a catch phrase just before they did a job. True to their nature of not being cerebral criminals, he'd say, "Time to Get Lucky".

And I guess they all did.

8/10