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Darjeeling Limited, The

4/10

Stars: Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Jason Schwartzman, Amara Karan, Irrfan Khan, Bill Murray, Anjelica Huston, Wallace Wolodarsky

Director: Wes Anderson

Three American brothers (Wilson, Brody, Schwartzman) set out on a train journey across India to find their mother (Huston), who has mysteriously failed to turn up for their father's funeral. Train movies are usually good fun, but this one is more likely to send you looking for the sleeping car.

Wilson, whose character's face has been banged up in an accident, tries to exert his authority over his two younger brothers, while Brody worries about his pregnant wife, and Schwartzman has sex with the stewardess (Karan). All three look for a place to smoke on the eponymous non-smoking train.

Wilson tells the others that their mother 'is living in a convent in the foothills of the Himalayas. We'll be there in six days.' Unfortunately, well inside that time the brothers get thrown off The Darjeeling Limited for general misbehaviour and later become involved in trying to save three boys from a raging river.

The trio, alas, prove monotonous company, making this one train you'll be glad to miss. It's preceded by a short film, Hotel Endeavour, with Schwartzman and Natalie Portman, whose only point is in its relevance to one scene in the main film.

David Quinlan

USA 2007. UK Distributor: 20th Century Fox (Fox Searchlight). Technicolor.
91 minutes. Widescreen. UK certificate: 15.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 0, Drugs 0, Swearing 1.

Review date: 19 Nov 2007