The Royal Tenenbaums

Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) left his family. Etheline (Anjelica Huston) raised their three children as oddball geniuses. Twenty two years later, their early successes are now old memories. Chas (Ben Stiller) is a death-obsessed widowed father to Ari and Uzi. Richie (Luke Wilson) is a former tennis champ in love with his adopted sister Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow). Their neighbor childhood friend Eli Cash (Owen Wilson) is now a successful writer and professor. Margot is married to neurologist Raleigh St. Clair (Bill Murray). Etheline is asked by her friend Henry Sherman (Danny Glover) to get marry. Royal is broke. After finding out about the proposal, he tries to inject himself into the family by telling them that he's dying.

Director Wes Anderson starts his journey to discover his unique style. I love the visual concept of what he's doing. I don't particularly like the characters or their story. I don't find it funny but I do like the unique style. This is a wacky dysfunctional family that doesn't make me laugh.

With 'The Royal Tenenbaums', Wes Anderson turns his lens to the American family, warts and all. The Tenenbaums are a dysfunctional family – the parents have been separated for decades, and Royal (Gene Hackman) is a disbarred attorney who has long since moved out of the family's enormous house (in an unnamed city of course). The children, all geniuses and overachievers in their own way, are then raised by Etheline (Angelica Houston), an archeologist. Chas (Ben Stiller) is a financial wizard, Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow), is adopted and was a published playwright at 11, and Richie (Luke Wilson) is a tennis prodigy. We are provided the family history at the start of the film, then are introduced to the family 22 years later. Chas is still a financial wizard, but, having lost his wife in a plane accident is now the paranoid father of two small sons. Margot is married to Raleigh St. Clair (Bill Murray, who is basically Anderson's muse), is depressed and hasn't written in years, and Richie, after having a nervous breakdown on the tennis court a couple of years earlier is traveling the world by boat. Still hanging around is Eli (Owen Wilson) a long-time family friend from across the street who is now a literature professor and successful novelist. Etheline is being wooed by her accountant, Henry (Danny Glover) and when Royal gets wind of this, he embarks on a bid to win his family back after not speaking with them for years.

Wes Anderson has an unusual style of film-making that has been static throughout his career. Highly theatrical, almost in the style of a play, he presents the story of the Tenenbaums to us as if it were taken directly from a book, so much so that if you were to read the few sentences that are visible in the book that accompanies the beginning of each 'chapter', you would see that the written narrative follows the action to the letter. Anderson favors primary colors, and characters that are identifiable by very distinct appearances. Chas and his sons have their red track suits they always wear, Margot wears the clip in her hair, Izod dresses from the 80's and dark eyeliner surrounding her eyes, Richie wears the sweatband around his head, Eli is in cowboy gear and Raleigh looks like a Freud knockoff. One of the results is that there are varying degrees of recognition for the actor in 'real life'. When seeing Raleigh, it's easy to forget that it is Bill Murray, and Margot for that matter is so different from how we are used to seeing Paltrow. Certainly, this is Anderson's intent. Anderson also favors point of view shots, characters looking directly at or addressing the camera, and is also one of the few modern masters in the use of music. The soundtrack to 'The Royal Tenenbaums' features some classic songs (Ruby Tuesday, Hey Jude) but also has some obscure tracks that are bizarre and fit into the scene beautifully.

'The Royal Tenenbaums' has a phenomenal cast, and all of the actors are excellent in the film. I get the strong impression that, since Anderson isn't a mainstream film director, A-list actors sign up to work for him because of his alternative vision and his obvious talent. When I watched this film recently, I asked the two friends I saw it with what they thought, and they both said 'It was quirky'. Since they are both film lovers, I was a little disappointed in this narrow (and obvious) assessment of the film at first. Upon further reflection, however, I realized that they both come from households that have parents who are still together. Coming from a 'broken home' I can relate to the high dysfunction of the Tenenbaums as an adult and embrace the story beyond the presentation, despite its highly stylized format. 'The Royal Tenenbaums' is a brilliant film that is both emotional and eye-catching, and truly cements Wes Anderson as an exciting and talented filmmaker. 9/10

--Shelly

I think if someone tries to watch a Wes Anderson film, they have to have a certain kind mind to understand the real meaning of them. After being awed by the Royal Tenenbaums, I left with a certain kind of joy that only a great film can give me. It's like flying an electric kite, it's that hard of a buzz. As I began my travel down the stairs of the theater, I heard this couple talking about how stupid the movie was, and how they are going to ask for a refund. I suddenly smiled, because I hoped that they would get one. I think that I got something out of the film that they didn't. That inside the frames of the movie I felt like I was in good company and had a understanding for the material that they didn't. What is so good about the Royal Tenenbaums? The great detail in every frame, from the costumes (and they really are costumes)to the design of Chas, Margot, and Richie rooms and the house. This is brilliant film on every level, a delight for the senses and for the mind. This movie makes you think, and without giving too much away there is a lot of surprises that come from the characters dialogue and their past. High kudos go to Luke Wilson, I loved his performance as the suffering Richie. If you loved Rushmore, there is no doubt that you will love this film because it is at par with it, except that its a bit darker in tone. I think its funny that way that people look at film, we each love or hate a film based on our own perception(and mind there are people who just watch film for entertainment). So if you have a complicated mind and you enjoy watching a challenging film, then the Royal Tenenbaums is for you. As for me, I plan on watching it again so I find more things to love about it. Thank you Wes Anderson, so much. You made laugh, you made me smile and I cried. A thousand times, thank you!

I think it's unfortunate that some of those who liked this film imply that anyone who found it a waste of time is a boor, who is only interested in Jim Carrey style films. There are some very off-beat, "arty" films that I enjoy a great deal. This was not one of them, though. To me, it was "okay", but certainly not great. The humor was very subtle. I got most of the "jokes" (or humorous aspects, really, more than jokes) that people have mentioned, but they just weren't all that funny, to me. Maybe I actually sympathized with the characters too much; the humor was overwhelmed by the sadness of their situations.

It seems to be generally agreed that this is Wes Anderson's staple film, or perhaps his mission statement as far as movies he wanted to create: idiosyncratic, campy tales about complex relationships being told in often witty and blunt dialogue. And no one can forget the Wes Anderson tells - symmetry, pastel or earthy color schemes, and Bill Murray. Even though the way this story is told would never happen in real life (it felt fitting that the "actual story" being told was through a book), it still feels incredibly human and almost believable in an odd way. Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) almost feels like the hero of a classic Greek tragedy, except the movie focuses more on gathering yourself the day, or in this case, the two decades after. Royal's ex-wife (Anjelica Huston), his two sons (Ben Stiller and Luke Wilson), his adopted daughter (Gwyneth Paltrow), and his children's friend from across the street (Owen Wilson) have all fallen on hard times (meltdowns, depression, drug use) decades after the family drifted apart. Royal attempts to reconnect with his family initially to keep his distanced wife from remarrying a tax advisor (Donny Glover), but throughout the film, he finds the best days of his life with his long-lost family. The group catches up with varying success and share in each other's mutual sadness. There are many beautiful and crushing scenes, heightened by the Wes Anderson style, and the story explores several different feelings and tones. I think the only real problem is that even though every character is written well and intricate in their own special way, and I believe each has an arc as well, there are so many people and histories to keep track of, it becomes a little bit of a nuisance. And the film struggles to juggle all these characters and all of this information in a balanced way; they each kind of have their moment and disappear for a while and then resurface briefly. And this makes the telling of the story a little choppy and confusing at points because you're always wondering who someone is or why they are acting the way they are until you remember through context clues. But if it weren't chosen to have this movie told through a book, I think it might have been much more noticeable. Of Anderson's films that I have seen, even though it is not my favorite by him, I'd say it's the best introduction to one of the best filmmakers in the industry right now.