Bottle Rocket

Bottle Rocket (1996) is Wes Anderson's crime comedy and feature debut, available to watch online on iFILM. Anthony has just checked out of a hospital after a breakdown, and his friend Dignan is already waiting with a life plan mapped out seventy-five years ahead.

The plan, naturally, involves robberies. Dignan (Owen Wilson) dreams of a career as a professional thief and aches to impress a local crime legend named Mr. Henry (James Caan). Anthony (Luke Wilson) tags along mostly out of boredom and falls for a motel housekeeper, Inez, despite barely sharing a language with her. Their third man, the mellow Bob, is along chiefly for his car. None of them can actually pull off a heist, and that's the whole joke.

The Wilson brothers co-wrote the script with Anderson, and his entire future style is already here: oddballs who care more about friendship than loot, real tenderness toward losers, and frames composed to the inch. It flopped at the box office, yet Martin Scorsese later called it a favorite, and its standing grew in hindsight. A quiet, charming film for anyone tired of loud heists. Stream Bottle Rocket (1996) online on iFILM.