The trio of friends face a new path in their lives in order to implement their detailed plan to steal a simple robbery. They seem to face a different destiny. The more they learn, the more they realize that they do not know the first thing about the crime that they decided to plan.
Bottle Rocket was conceived as a low-budget family affair -- it has more Wilsons than the Beach Boys -- and outside of a few cult-intensive pockets of fandom, that's where it's likely to end up.
It's only in the finale of Bottle Rocket, brimming over with poignant male self-delusion, that the flair and sizzle of Anderson's future promise returns.
[Bottle Rocket] meanders pleasantly, like a road movie, with a seventies-style, anything-goes offhandedness that whisks the audience through the rough spots.
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.
Like the cheap pyrotechnic of the title, Bottle Rocket neither goes very far nor ends with a bang, and that's part of its charm, originality and delight.
This is a movie about friendship, about foolhardy endeavors that get your adrenaline going and make you feel life buzzing in your toes. Written with wit and concision and remarkable confidence, Bottle Rocket is a joyride worth taking.
This deliciously offbeat comedy gets much of its oomph from a loopy screenplay and lead performances that can only be called hilariously bland, or is it blandly hilarious?
A confident, eccentric debut about a trio of shambling and guileless friends who become the Candides of crime, Rocket feels particularly refreshing because it never compromises on its delicate deadpan sensibility.
