Bottle Rocket
Sony Pictures Releasing | Release Date: February 21, 1996 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
67
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
5
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Dallas ObserverAndy Klein
Its tone has elements of Jim Jarmusch and the Coen brothers but without Jarmusch's self-conscious artiness or the Coens' hip snottiness. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Though Bottle Rocket is wryly amusing from beginning to end, the hard edges of the real world are never too far from its surface. And it is the particular grace of the film that though all its characters end up with something like what they're looking for, its not exactly how they'd imagined it would be. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterDavid Hunter
A marvelous debut film for its director, writer and lead actors, Bottle Rocket is propelled by a fresh approach to the caper genre, with a trio of youthful Texan misfits thoroughly botching their half-baked "adventures," with the goal of someday graduating to more ambitious levels of criminality. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
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. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklySteve Daly
The title refers to cheap fireworks that fizz before they flame out quietly, and that's what three Southwestern slackers do in this amiable heist movie-cum-road flick. Read full review
80
Orlando SentinelJay Boyar
In Bottle Rocket, the small scale and vague amateurishness (especially in the performances) are themselves rather endearing. They seem to go along with the screwed-up characters, as does the loosely structured plot. Read full review
80
EmpireKim Newman
In an era not exactly short of quirky bungled heist movies, Anderson and Wilson take an interesting tack – coming in late on lifelong relationships, and showing us the pay-offs to friendships and resentments that have been simmering for years. Read full review
80
VarietyDavid Rooney
Full of surprising warmth and charm, unexpected plot turns and droll characters that bounce off each other in refreshing ways. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
It's a cool breeze of a comedy, with a slant on things that's dark but compassionate. Watching Bottle Rocket doesn't just make you laugh. It makes you smile between the laughs, think beneath the smiles. Read full review
75
Baltimore SunStephen Hunter
Bottle Rocket's off-handed, anti-professional humor is extremely amusing and its ability to evoke the bittersweet pangs of love and friendship very poignant. Read full review
75
USA TodayMike Clark
Rocket flies with comic-kaze crooks. [21 February 1996, p. D6]
75
The Seattle TimesDoug Thomas
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. Read full review
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
A hilarious, inventive and goofy breath of fresh air. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Fresh, character driven, often funny, and unfashionably upbeat (as well as offbeat). Read full review
70
The New YorkerBruce Diones
Meanders pleasantly, like a road movie, with a seventies-style, anything-goes offhandedness that whisks the audience through the rough spots. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineMatt Noller
Anderson has a great deal of empathy for his charming band of fuck-ups, but the characters are thinly drawn, and Anderson's attempts to lend the story emotional weight, like giving Anthony a ludicrously one-dimensional love interest in South American housekeeper Inez (Lumi Cavazos), largely fall flat. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
sStarts and finishes strong, but, somewhere in the middle, it loses its focus and its way. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not credited)
This lightweight road picture about a group of inept thieves has an uneven beginning but ends up charming and satisfying. Read full review
60
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
A mildly facetious tone limits Anderson's film to the lightweight, but the collective enthusiasm behind this debut effort still comes through. What's best about Bottle Rocket is not the laid-back pranks that inflate its story to feature length but the offbeat elan with which that story is told. Read full review
60
Washington PostRita Kempley
Gets by on quirky charm and slacker chic-but just barely. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Bottle Rocket's minimalist pop has a refreshing flavor but insufficient bubbles for a long, cool drink. Maybe someone ought to think about culling this thing down into a sustainable short film. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Entertaining if you understand exactly what it is: if you see it as a film made by friends out of the materials presented by their lives and with the freedom to not push too hard. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The film itself is wretched. A grueling, numbing black hole. Read full review
12
San Francisco ExaminerBarry Walters
Several times during this film, you wish you were a bottle rocket so you could explode out of your seat and leave this tedious mess behind. Read full review
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