I suppose it
would be possible to run into a character from Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) in real
life, but the odds of running into that entire family seems next to impossible.
The unique filmmaker’s third film ups the ante from his previous film Rushmore, so of course things become
quirkier as he further advances towards his current masterpiece The Grand Budapest Hotel.
The Royal Tenenbaums has all of his usual visual styles, musical
preferences, and of course two of his usual collaborators, Bill Murray and Owen
Wilson. The story is very “Wes Anderson,” so if it is your first time watching
one of his films you may be caught by surprise, as I was when I first watched
it in 2002. The film was nominated for many awards and is described as a comedy-drama,
but there not many moments when you will be laughing out loud. As the film open
with Alec Baldwin narrating the various exploits of the Tenenbaum children you
have to wonder if the whole thing is not some long elaborate joke thought out
by Anderson and Wilson his co-writer.
All three of the
Tenenbaum children are described as prodigies in their own fields, with Chas
Tenenbaum (Ben Stiller) being an expert in finances, but for some reason always
wear the same red jumpsuit along with his two children Ari and Uzi. Brother
Richie (Luke Wilson) is a tennis champion who retired after a meltdown on the
court and then spent months living on an ocean liner. Adopted sister Margot
(Gwyneth Paltrow) is a playwright who has many secrets kept from the family,
and who is married to neurologist Raleigh St. Clair (Bill Murray, sporting a
beard). Finally there is Eli Cash (Owen Wilson), a close friend of the family
for years who gained fame for writing Western novels.
The parents of
these oddballs are of course equally outlandish, yet patriarch Royal Tenebaum
(Gene Hackman) stands out due to his failures instead of his achievements.
Whereas his wife Etheline (Anjelica Huston) is a famous archaeologist and
author, Royal is a disbarred lawyer with a poor track record as a father. He
once shot one of the kids with a BB gun, can be blatantly insensitive, but
compared to the rest of the characters he almost comes off as the normal one, maybe
it is because Hackman stands out from Anderson’s material. Yet he has a lot of
fun as Royal, especially when he goes out with Ari and Uzi for some fun, which
in his mind consists of shoplifting and dog fighting.
The reason for
all of these characters to come together is because Royal claims he has developed
a form of cancer that leaves him with six weeks to live. He wishes to make
amends for his past mistakes, but his children are not quick to forgive or even
to believe him. Given past behaviour they probably shouldn’t.
A movie could
probably be made about each of these characters separately, but put together
the result is almost too quirky for the movie’s own good. What is a first-time
viewer of Anderson’s work to make of the character of Pagoda (Kumar Pallana) a
family servant who was once an assassin that stabbed Royal?
All of the actors
in The Royal Tenenbaums are all very
effective in their assigned roles, the writing was so good it ended up
influencing both Arrested Development and
Alec Baldwin’s role in 30 Rock. However
if you are new to Anderson’ world, it may not be the best place to start.
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