Movie #65 -- The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

Title: The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

Director: Wes Anderson

Release Year: 2004

Plot Summary: Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) had a best friend named Esteban (Seymour Cassel) who was eaten by... something. Steve may or may not have a son named Ned (Owen Wilson). Together, they set out to get revenge on the "jaguar shark".

Thoughts: You will either love this movie or you'll hate it, there's no middle ground. There never is for Wes Anderson movies. That being said, I feel that this is Anderson's strongest work to date. Not only is it his most quirky film (there's a character who's only job is to look out for pirates and perform David Bowie songs on a classical guitar) but I feel it is his most heartwarming and therefore accessable.

And then there's the cast: Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Owen Wilson, Angelica Huston, Jeff Goldblum, Micahel Gambon, Willem Defoe, and Bud Cort. WOW! Everyone here is top notch -- the strongest ensemble cast of 2004 (yes, better than Sideways and yes, better than Eternal Sunshine...). Bill Murray gives the second strongest performance of his career (behind Lost in Translation) and gave one of the best leading actor performance of all of 2004.

As I mentioned before, you either love Wes Anderson's work of you hate it. You either find his films to be fantastic character studies or boring. This film is no exception to the rule, it almost plays like American Beauty on a boat, but with the aforementioned quirkiness. I will say this though, if you don't feel a little something when the entire cast is in the submarine at the end of the film and Sigur Ros starts playing, there is a good chance that you might not have a soul.

Rating (0-10): 8.25

Recomendations: Any and all of Wes Anderson's work. If you've never seen any of Anderson's films before, rent some before you buy it. You can thank me later for that. I, of course, bought the two disc collector's set.