As an American filmmaker with no particular pedigree (like the Coppolas or Hustons), Wes Anderson's penchant for exclusiveness could have put him in a precarious position in the aggressively democratized world of Hollywood cinema. As it turns out, he occupies a not unenviable niche, probably because his brand of snobbishness has less to do with the banal quest for wealth and breeding than a fascination for twee eccentricities. Or more to the point, for people with the means to indulge these antics, as in the manner of that unobtrusive rich kid in college who didn't have to work and could cut an entire semester to go on a dolphin- watching expedition, returning months later with a deep tan and clad in well-worn cashmere.
Anderson's last film "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" had been about just that kind of kid, grown to late middle age (played with spot-on brilliance by Bill Murray), enthralled by his own, boyish wanderlust, and undercut by a stylish disillusionment with life and equally stylish personal problems — usually to do with beautiful women.
Anderson's latest is "The Darjeeling Limited," which has not one but three such guys locked into the Anderson mode of privileged, preppified self-absorption. They are the Whitman brothers, who convene in India after a period of estrangement, to travel together on a train whimsically called the Darjeeling Express. The objective, laid down by eldest bro Francis (Owen Wilson) is to "catch up, bond and get some spiritual healing." Coming from a man whose face is almost completely bandaged from a motorcycle accident, this New Age announcement resounds with weirdness (we learn later that the accident was a botched suicide attempt). Middle brother Peter (Adrien Brody), surreptitiously casting glances at Francis's mangled visage, is disinclined to cooperate. He has his own screw-up to contend with: His wife is about to have their baby but he wants a divorce. Peter had come on this trip as an excuse to be away from the birth and could care less about spiritual enlightenment.