Given that he has become one of the most unique voices to emerge in recent American cinema, it is surprising that Wes Anderson’s directorial debut, which he cowrote with star Owen Wilson, didn’t make more of a splash. Dismissed by Sundance, ignored by audiences, and pummeled with middling to negative reviews, it looked like it might possibly be the first and last of his quirky experiments in celebrating dreamy outsiders. With the benefit of hindsight, though, we can now see this funny, odd, and flawed film about a trio of would-be criminals as a fascinating nascent work that embodies in one way or another virtually everything that is admirable in Anderson’s subsequent films. (DVD)