Starring Gene Hackman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson,
Angelica Huston, Danny Glover, Bill Murray, Jonah Myerson, Grant Rosenmeyer, Kumar Pallana
Stephen Lea Sheppard.
Written by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson. Directed by Wes Anderson.
Royal Tenenbaum (Hackman) and his wife Etheline (Huston) had three children and then
they separated after 10 years together. Chas (Ben Stiller) started buying real estate
in his early youth and had a deep understanding of international finance. Margot (Paltrow)
was a playwright and received a Braverman Grant of fifty thousand dollars in the ninth
grade. Richie (Luke Wilson ) was a junior champion tennis player and won the U.S. Nationals
three years in a row. Virtually all memory of the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums was
subsequently erased by two decades of betrayal, failure, and disaster.
Chas lost his wife in a plane accident a year ago. Margot married an older admirer
Raleigh St. Clair (Murray) and hasn't written a play in seven years. Richie suddenly
self-destructed on the tennis court, and quit the tennis tour.
Through a series of events, each of the children return to the family home. Royal
fakes that he is dying of cancer and persuades Etheline to allow him to return as well.
This doesn't go over well with Chas, who has never forgiven his father after being
involved in a series of litigations against one another, and doesn't thrill Henry
Sherman (Glover), the family's accountant who has designs on Etheline. Will the
Tenenbaums cope with their new found togetherness?
Written by the same writers of Bottle Rocket and Rushmore, The Royal
Tenenbaums utilizes the same deadpan style and wealth of offbeat characters. Anderson
and Wilson create their own unique universe with quirky inhabitants and dysfunctional
relationships. The story itself is original and keeps running off into new, often
unexpected directions. Anderson's world is an acquired taste, relying on the viewer
to find the humour in the situations as they develop.
I like Royal Tenenbaums more than Rushmore, but for me the deadpan style
only works to a point. The problem is that there is little
energy to the film with the majority of characters expressionless and emotionally dead.
It is difficult to care about the characters as real people.
There are a decent amount of funny moments, with the scenes of Royal and Chas's kids
touring the city among the best.
The performances are generally good, and a couple really stand out. Hackman is simply
excellent as the manipulative, shameless father who has no problem using whatever
story he can in conning wife or child to get his own way. He nails the selfishness and
egocentricity of the character, although his sudden transformation of character at
film's end is a bit forced. Paltrow, with her mascara-laden sad eyes, is the only
one able to evoke any sympathy for her unhappy and directionless life, and supplies
Margot with the most heart of any character. Glover also gives his character a bit
of real humanity, starting with Sherman's heartfelt reference to his mother's cancer.
The Royal Tenenbaums is an offbeat comedy that looks at the world and family life
in its own unique way. If your tastes tend towards the unusual, The Royal Tenebaums
could provide you with an enjoyable diversion.
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