The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

The eccentric members of a dysfunctional family reluctantly gather under the same roof for various reasons.

Director:

Wes Anderson

Writers:

Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson

Stars:

Gene Hackman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anjelica Huston

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 10 wins & 45 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gene Hackman	...	Royal Tenenbaum
Anjelica Huston	...	Etheline Tenenbaum
Ben Stiller	...	Chas Tenenbaum
Gwyneth Paltrow	...	Margot Tenenbaum
Luke Wilson	...	Richie Tenenbaum
Owen Wilson	...	Eli Cash
Bill Murray	...	Raleigh St. Clair
Danny Glover	...	Henry Sherman
Seymour Cassel	...	Dusty
Kumar Pallana	...	Pagoda
Alec Baldwin	...	Narrator (voice)
Grant Rosenmeyer	...	Ari Tenenbaum
Jonah Meyerson	...	Uzi Tenenbaum
Aram Aslanian-Persico	...	Young Chas Tenenbaum
Irina Gorovaia	...	Young Margot Tenenbaum (as Irene Gorovaia)

Storyline

Three grown prodigies, all with a unique genius of some kind, and their mother are staying at the family household. Their father, Royal had left them long ago, and comes back to make things right with his family.

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Plot Keywords:

family relationships | forbidden love | unconventional family | eccentric family | lesbian kiss | 

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Taglines:

Family Isn't A Word... It's A Sentence.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some language, sexuality/nudity and drug content

Did You Know?

Trivia

DIRECTOR TRADEMARK (Wes Anderson): (Kumar Pallana): Anderson has given Kumar Pallana (Pagoda) a part in each of his movies (with the exception of The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)). Pallana used to work at Anderson's favorite coffee shop in Dallas, Texas.

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Goofs

Royal's cigarette jumps from his hand to the ashtray repeatedly when he is having a conference with his three children.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: Royal Tenenbaum bought the house on Archer Avenue in the winter of his 35th year. Over the next decade, he and his wife had three children, and then they separated.

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Crazy Credits

The film title first appears on a library book being checked out, then several of the books are seen, and finally the book cover becomes a title card.

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Alternate Versions

Three different songs were used for the final sequence at various points. Some advance screenings (including the New York Film Festival version) featured the Beatles' "I'm Looking Through You" (not the "official" version, but rather the alternate version available on the "Anthology 2" CD set), while others used the Beach Boys' "Sloop John B." The final version of the scene is accompanied by Van Morrison's "Everyone."

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Connections

Featured in Half in the Bag: Quarantine Catch-up (part 3 of 2) (2020)

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Soundtracks

Rock The Casbah
Written by Topper Headon, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Joe Strummer
Published by Universal-PolyGram International Publishing Inc.
o/b/o Universal Music Publishing, Ltd. and Ninden Ltd.
Performed by The Clash
Courtesy of Epic Records/Sony Entertainment (UK) Ltd.
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

'Quirky' Seems To Be The Most Popular Word To Describe This

This was a quirky film that surprised me, in that I liked it....at least twice. By the third viewing, I had enough but I got my money's worth out of it. That's what I would recommend with this movie: rent it before considering buying it. It's very different, and you might love but also might hate it.

What it is, simply, is a portrait of a very dysfunctional family and the father trying to re-connect with his kids after a long absence. Gene Hackman is the father, Angelica Huston the mother and the wacko kids - and other assorted strange characters - are played by Ben Stiller, Owen and Luke Wilson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Bill Murray and Danny Glover.

This is mostly dry, dark humor with some funny lines delivered in deadpan style. Nobody is particularly likable but - with the possible exception of Paltrow's character - are not really unlikeable either. They are just strange.

I enjoyed viewing the house with all its colors. For those who appreciate low-key absurd humor nd some pleasing visuals, you should like this film and I certainly recommend giving it a look.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

4 January 2002 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Royal Tenenbaums

Filming Locations:

U.S. Customs House, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$21,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$276,981, 16 December 2001

Gross USA:

$52,364,010

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$71,444,482

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Pictures, American Empirical Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1