shadow_blade-89459
"The Royal Tenenbaums" (2001) is a comedic drama about an emotionless, self-centered man named Royal Tenenbaum, played by Gene Hackman, as he tries to interject himself back into the lives of his abandoned family after finding out his wife Etheline, played by Anjelica Huston, is contemplating getting married to another man. Royal tells his wife, from which he is not divorced, that he has a terminal illness and only wishes to have his family back before his six weeks comes to an end. Etheline's fiancé, Henry Sherman played by Danny Glover, suspects there may be trickery afoot and a rollercoaster ensues. I am not usually of fan of redemption stories, but this is a great film. It reminded me that there is usually a Royal character in everyone's life. The director, Wes Anderson, does an outstanding job forcing the audience to care, from a distance, about this jerk of a man. The portrayal of the children in relations to Royal was magnificent. His two biological children Chas, played by Ben Stiller, and Ritchie, played by Luke Wilson, both capture an essence of Royal, but neither capture his characteristics as well as his adopted daughter Margot, played by Gwyneth Paltrow. As a viewer, you want and need to hate Royal, but Mr. Anderson, through his direction, keeps the audience from falling all the way over the fence. Overall, this is an astonishing film I only wish I would have seen earlier. This film sheds a different light on redemption storylines.
victordelavieter
An Anderson try at a genre once dominated by the now Cosby-ized Woody Allen, the dysfunctional upper middle class family. If other Anderson work already confused you - don't even try. Few Hollywood conventions and little comforting 'this is only acting' here.
Would Allen have put an egotistic, neurotic protagonist the center i.e an image of himself - here cinema, verity, redemption, maturity dominate. Allen poked fun at the self-destructing individual out of some sadistic depth but none of that self-gratifying fake intellectualism here. What we get is true 21st century compassion.
What beautiful cmaerwork, what attention to detail, what rhythm, what performances - even Ben Stiller almost does something that comes close to acting. Tom me Bill Murray excells as the heartbroken cuckolded husband - not one second he is temptes to ad any funny stuff to his fragile persona.
A film to see over and over again.
WubsTheFadger
Short and Simple Review by WubsTheFadgerFirst off, Wes Anderson has created another whimsical, colorful, and plain out weird film once again. The story is told fluently and gracefully introduces us to the colorful characters and their personalities. The story is very funny and at time extremely touching.The acting is great. Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, Danny Glover, Seymour Cassel, Kumar Pallana, and Alec Baldwin all perform very well.The pacing is a little slow in the middle but overall, it is consistently fast. The runtime is a little overlong.Pros: Whimsical, funny, and touching story, great acting, and a great endingCons: Some slow pacing and an overlong runtimeOverall Rating: 8.2
runamokprods
Wes Anderson's idiosyncratic films create very individual reactions. I've had more than a few good-natured arguments about which are his best films. So the opinions below should be taken with that grain of salt.For me, while this is not quite as brilliant and original as Anderson's classic 'Rushmore', it's a terrific movie, full of wonderful performances, great cinematic flourishes, Anderson's trademark terrific use of songs as score, and lots of very funny and occasionally deeply touching moments. He continues to create deeply dysfunctional, wildly screwed characters you still care for. What 'Rushmore' did for adolescence, this does for family, wealth, and the confusing weirdness of young adulthood.It just didn't stay with me quite the same way 'Rushmore' did, and some of the Anderson techniques that were shockingly new and refreshing the first time, feel more familiar here. But this his is one of the very brightest, most original voices on the US film scene of his generation -- a film-maker who creates oddball worlds and characters that somehow you can still always relate to. This is a film well worth seeing out, and seeing more than once.
AD
