Anthony has just escaped from a mental health facility and soon reconnects with his friend Dignan, whose aspirations are much greater than his capabilities. Along with their reserved friend Bob, they linger between plans that never come to fruition, petty crimes, and borrowed concepts of what it means to be an outlaw. Their endeavors are seldom successful, often ill-timed, and more a result of passion than planning. However, what begins as a game soon spirals out of control. Bottle Rocket is Wes Anderson’s first feature-length film, an extension of a short film he had previously made with the same cast. Made on a low budget, the film already shows signs of the aesthetic that would be refined in later works, with attention to composition, dark humor, and an emphasis on awkward social interactions. However, the film is also very much a hangout film, and not a crime film. Bottle Rocket watches its characters with a sense of understanding, rather than with a sense of irony, and captures a moment before ambition becomes certitude.