The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Hated it.

I get it. It's trying to be a deadpan, quirky movie about a dysfunctional family. It just isn't NEARLY as good as the pretentious people out there would have you believe. Arrested Development does the same thing but with WAY more interesting characters and humour that never misses the mark. August 30, 2008

the royal tenenbaums

I think that Wes Anderson has done a wonderful job directing this film. Initially upon the first viewing I wasn't a hundred percent in love with the movie, however this is the type of film that should be viewed more than once. Every time you watch it you learn something or catch some joke that you didn't notice before. This film does not use the typically blatant humor instead it is rye and witty in a sort of dark way. I think the manner in which the story is narrated and delivered is great not to mention the characters as well. This movie rejects the nuclear family and actually shows a family so dysfunctional that they are almost normal because they are so different just like any other family. I would also recommend the Darjeeling Limited and the Life Aquatic less so which are both also directed by Wes Anderson. August 27, 2008

Entertaining but flawed and somehow superficial

After gaining attention with his quirky early films BOTTLE ROCKET and RUSHMORE, writer and director Wes Anderson was able to bring together a wide Hollywood cast for his ambitious 2001 effort THE ROYAL TENNEBAUMS. As the movie opens, we are shown the rise of the three children of the Tannebaum family, prodigies who excel in business, sports and literature respectively. The upbringing of these little geniuses is left to their mother Etheline (Angelica Huston) after their father Royal (Gene Hackman) leaves the family. We flashforward to the present day, where the family has fallen from glory. Chas Tennenbaum (Ben Stiller) is too crushed by the death of his wife to focus on business, Margot (Gwenyth Paltrow) hasn't written a play in years and sulks most of the day in the bathtub, and Richie (Luke Wilson) retired from tennis after mysterious blowing his last game. It is at this time that their father returns, and the reconciliation between the family members is the story of the film.

Wes Anderson retains his quirky sense of humour here. Though ostensibly set in the present day, the lives of the characters occasionally seem bound in traditions of a century ago, as when Royal has an Indian servant, and one of Etheline's suitors is a polar explorer, and this gives a certain charm to the picture. Another amusing Anderson touch is the sheer detail of the sets, with background items like newspaper clippings, portraits and bookshelf contents providing a feeling that these characters are fully formed and have a past. I think that the best part of the film may in fact be the supporting cast. Bill Murray, who plays Margot's husband, was to go on to play this type of jaded, unhappy middle-aged man in several films until it just stopped being fun anymore, but this early go at it is quite entertaining. Owen Wilson's character Eli Cash is hilarious, an author of Western novels who gets so caught up in the mythology of the Old West that he starts taking mescaline and descends into drug addiction. In some respects, Cash is similar to Wilson's character Hansel in Zoolander of the same year.

Unfortunately, I think the film is flawed. Anderson has certainly learnt much from earlier film-makers, especially the great European auteurs of the 1950s and 1960s, but there's too often a sense that the film is imitation instead of original insight. This sense of discomfort only increases on re-watching the film. I also find the soundtrack extremely incongruent with the rest of the production. While entertaining, and even memorable in several respects, THE ROYAL TENNENBAUMS leaves me with mixed feelings. July 27, 2008

best movie, ever

With Wes Anderson movies, most people either love or hate the films. I think it's either you get it or you don't. With the Tenenbaums, I absolutely loved every second of the film from the first time I saw it in the theater in 2001. Gene Hackman is perfectly cast as Royal with his sometimes careless comments to his children during flashbacks, but his funny little sayings, "You're true blue Ethel," makes him almost hard to hate. Ben Stiller (Chas) is perfect as his crazy perfectionist character. There are too many story lines to explain and too many side stories, but over all, it's amazing, funny, and not boring at all. I laugh so much watching this every time.
July 1, 2008

Delightful

One of my absolute favourite movies! The commentary on the Criterion is also worth listening to. June 26, 2008

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