`Bottle Rocket' Soars For First-Time Effort

----------------------------------------------------------------- Movie review

XXX "Bottle Rocket," with Owen C. Wilson, Luke Wilson, James Caan. Directed by Wes Anderson, from a script by Wilson and Anderson. Varsity. "R" - Restricted because of language, violence. -----------------------------------------------------------------

For their first films, Robert Rodriguez, Kevin Smith and Ed Burns spent only a few thousand dollars, borrowed props and worked around regular jobs. The fact that their movies - "El Mariachi," "Clerks" and "The Brothers McMullen," respectively - became successful, or even widely seen, was icing on the cake.

When budding filmmakers daydream about their first movie-making experiences, they probably don't focus on the low-budget struggle of these three. More likely they'd prefer an experience like the one Wes Anderson and Owen C. Wilson had.

A friend showed the former University of Texas students' 13-minute film to producer Polly Platt, who loved it and signed on as producer of a full-length expansion using the same actors. Anderson and Wilson even received a relatively small budget for a studio film - a few million.

The making of "Bottle Rocket" would only be a wonderful sidebar if the film were devoid of merit. Columbia Pictures is treating the film as something special. Though it's no "Citizen Kane" (the holy grail of debuts), there is a vitality here, a polish unseen in a low-budget debut since Boaz Yakin's "Fresh" two years ago.

We meet Anthony (Luke Wilson) who's being discharged from a mental hospital for "exhaustion." Anthony is the most normal character in this movie, where normality is the exception.

Nearly out of habit, he buddies up with best friend Dignan, a young buck too full of ideas he takes seriously (co-writer Owen C. Wilson). Dignan methodically goes over his plans, neatly laid out for the month, year and the next half-century. Anthony's just along for the ride: a little to protect his friend, a lot out of boredom.

From the start, "Bottle Rocket" isn't about creating a full-throttle commercial story. It weaves a beguiling web of comedy, pathos and crime. Other debut features have gone down this road, but director Anderson is amazingly at ease with the set-up. Anthony and Dignan rob with no general purpose but it's not portrayed as nihilistic.

Dignan wants to pull jobs to win the admiration of Mr. Henry (James Caan), who is either a Californian Al Capone or just a landscaper in the Texas heat. Anthony and the audience question Dignan's flights of fancy.

After a bookstore robbery, they hide out in a weary, well-traveled motor inn. Dignan is ready for more; pal Bob (Robert Musgrave) wants to return to bail out his brutish brother. Anthony finds nothing less than true love with a shy maid (Lumi Cavazos of "Like Water for Chocolate").

With a wild-card character like Dignan, he could be either the most original character in many a moon - or never convincing. Wilson, with his cockeyed grin and rapid-fire delivery, comes off as a young Dennis Hopper.

Allowing this small production to undergo the glow of a studio film (including Robert Yeoman's crisp camera work and Mark Mothersbaugh's bouncy score), Columbia Pictures proves that film companies are still in the business of nurturing young talent.