Wes Anderson's THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU

I admit it. I'm terminally unhip. But I really enjoyed this movie. I put it right up there with Buckaroo Banzai and Repo Man, and that's very good company.

What did I like about it? It's clever, the characters are interesting, and sometimes it's just plain crazy. But Bill Murray's character holds things together despite the weirdness of the goings on.

My favorite supporting character is played by Willem Dafoe. I still think he was the best thing about Finding Nemo and Spiderman. Here he's superb - and funny.

The sets in this film are terrific. Murray plays an over-the-hill marine-biologist-showman patterned after Jacques Cousteau. Way over the hill. You can see that just from the equipment that surrounds his staff in the broken down research vessel they inhabit. The helicopter is unmaintained, student interns are used as slave labor, telephone and intercom technology is outdated, and onboard computers look like they are 25 yeas old.

This movie is not for everybody. It's crazy and whimsical in parts. Bur I felt happy and buoyed by it all and left the theater in a very good mood. I'm looking forward to the DVD.