We watched Bottle Rocket last night. Wes Anderson’s first movie. It was the second time I’ve seen it, the first being last Friday during the big snowstorm.
Last Friday I was a little underwhelmed. I thought it was a good precursor of the great things to come in Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbuams and The Life Aquatic, but it didn’t do a whole lot for me. As with all those movies though, watching it a second time was a good idea. Although the first time around I had enjoyed the usual quirky humor and the excellent music, I hadn’t really seen the point.
Last night, I enjoyed it more, and this morning, I think I figured out at least part of the point. That’s the good feeling you can get with one of his movies, because you usually have to digest the whole movie pretty well, think about it for a while, and then discover that not only is it a little hard to get to, it’s well worth it.
What you have is two good, if neurotic, friends: Anthony (Luke Wilson) and Dignan (Owen Wilson). They’re both bored. They live in luxury, though it’s alluded to that Dignan comes from much less than Anthony does, the whole movie is set in sterile, luxurious suburbia, probably Austin, Texas. The heroes are stifled, to say the least. But, here’s the point: Dignan seeks for escape from that through crime. He tries to become a professional thief not for the money but for the excitement, the feeling of being alive. Whenever he’s trying to sell Anthony on a heist, he never mentions the money but merely the elements of the heist: “Here are just a few of the key ingredients: dynamite, pole-vaulting, laughing gas, choppers. Can you see how incredible this is going to be…handgliding…Come on!”
On the other hand, the apathetic Anthony is also lonely and bored. But he looks for his outlet through love. Real connection with another human, the beautiful Paraguayan housekeeper Inez. 
And he finds it. He doesn’t need the heists anymore. In fact, the “life of crime” only endangers and almost ruins his relationship with Inez and he only comes back to it to cheer up Dignan, another example of Anthony needing to be good to his loved ones.
That’s my theory at least. It’s a good movie with all those interesting ideas buried in it. And with lots of funny lines:
Guy in bathroom: Hey, you’re in the Army, yes?
Dignan: No, I just have short hair.
the dharma bum 
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Bum, that’s an interesting reading of the movie, and i think it’s fairly spot-on. what about the character bob? any thoughts on why he joins in? it seems kind of obvious, now that you’ve deconstructed the other two characters… but you have some good insights.
happy saturday.