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"I guess I still have a lot of healing to do," Francis (Owen Wilson) tells his younger brothers Peter (Adrien Brody) and Jack (Jason Schwartzman) after a fracas aboard "The Darjeeling Limited," a train in India which is also the name of the movie directed by Wes Anderson starring a heavily bandaged Wilson.
 In the fictional story, Francis is the control-freak brother who, after suffering a motorcycle accident, summons his siblings to Asia for a soul-sharing railroad ride and search for their mother, Patricia (played by Anjelica Huston), who's become a nun and is living high in the Himalayas.
The set-up is pretty familar for Anderson, who directed the family saga, The Royal Tenenbaums (also starring Wilson and Huston) and Rushmore (which introduced Schwartzman). Even Bil Murray, star of Amderson's last film, A Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou as well as Rushmore, makes a cameo appearance.
Aboard the train for most of the movie, The Darjeeling Limited moves at a early 20th century pace. The brothers don't get along very well, as evidenced by Francis' constant planning for three, which is played for laughs. It's only when they get off - er, are thrown off - the train that the movie picks up the pace and stumbles upon adventure in sprawling, psychedelic India.
After a tragic raft accident, the brothers are embraced by a mourning rural community. The funeral pyre prompts a flashback to the recent death of their father and discussion of unresolved issues by the trio. While Peter is about to become a father, Jack is dealing with a break-up suffered in Paris. We learn less about Francis, other than he likes to medicate with Indian pharmacological concoctions, which he shares liberally with his brothers.
The denouement comes when they surpirse Patricia, who has little time for her sons. This stabs at their hearts, but at least they endured some hardship and experienced rare comraderie in achieving the - or at least Fances' - ultimate goal of the trip.
The movie could have used a transformative hash scene with religious sadhus providing a counterbalance to the brothers' self-indulgence. It's odd that Anderson, who's never shied away from drugs
in his movies and co-wrote the film with Schartzman and Roman Coppola, didn't figure that out.
The Darjeeling Limited is ambitious and even important, but it falls short of briliance, despite the solid performances.
Pics: Jason Schwartzman, Owen Wilson amd Adrien Brody in The Darjeeling Limited
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