The Darjeeling Limited

[Drunk Monk]

The Owen suicide factor made this film work better, but it still felt a little slow paced. Owen turned in a surprisingly good performance. Just when you think he's played that one charming ne'rdowell dude to death, he finds another project where it fits. Brody was good too; he has such an unlikely face for Hollywood. It was the first time I noticed Schartzman but IMDB says I've seen him in Bewitched. Whatever. More on him later. Angelica was good. She's always good. Another unlikely Hollywood face and we welcome those. This was my first Wes Anderson and I can see he catches dysfunctional families well. There were plenty of giggles at that. However, I'm an only child so the whole brothers dynamic was lost on me. You all are my brothers (and sisters). Plus I have my martial and rock med siblings. That's my only connection to brotherhood. Anyway, Wes almost captured India. Almost, but not really. It was mostly undone by the only Indian character with any meat of the role, by Rita 'fresh lime' Amara Karan. We're talking about a country that is trying to ban entrance for Richard Gere for kissing Shilpa Shetty on the cheek in public. Shilpa was scheduled to star opposite Jackie Chan in a project that failed called Joe. She's a former karate champion from India. So back to Rita, her character was so non-Indian, so contrived it all fell apart. If you've never been to India, this would work so much better.

The DVD had Hotel Chevalier, which is a prologue, the story that Schartzman's character is working on. It's Schartzman deadpanning the same lines to a nekkid Natalie Portman. The DVD lets you play it in order, but I think HC sits better at the end of the film. At least that's the way I watched it. Natalie shows everything yet nothing. HC makes DL work better.