“One of the year’s best films,” rave all the advertising for The Royal Tenenbaums. Well I don’t know if I would go that far, but this Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson written film is a good, and definitely different film. Anderson and Wilson also teamed together to write Rushmore. Anderson also directs the movie while Wilson (Zoolander) plays the part of Eli Cash in the movie.

In the film we are introduced to a rather unique dysfunctional family, the Tenenbaums. There is the father Royal (Gene Hackman of Heist & Heartbreakers) who is an attorney with many moral shortcomings. There is the mother Etheline (Anjelica Huston, Ever After) who is an archeologist that ends up raising the children herself after kicking out Royal about 17 years prior to the main portion of the events in the film. She writes a book on her experience and is set financially. Then there is Chas (Ben Stiller, Meet the Parents) as the oldest son who is a financial genius with some serious safety issues that are a result of his wife dying in a plane crash, however both kids and the dog survived. The younger brother is Richie (Luke Wilson from Legally Blonde) who is an ex-tennis star who is also in love with his sister Margot. Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow of Bounce, Shallow Hal) is the adopted member of the family and is also a famous playwright. All of the children are geniuses and had success early in life but are now plagued with various issues. Lastly in the family is neighbor boy Eli who becomes a virtual member of the family.

As to the plot of this very complex and layered film, Royal is getting kicked out of his hotel that he has lived at for years because he is now broke (he had to stop practicing law after being disbarred for stealing from Chas). So now Royal needs a place to live, so he fakes being terminally ill in order to move back into the old house. About this time most of the kids are having their own crises and move back home, plus Etheline is being courted by her accountant Henry Sherman (Danny Glover from Lethal Weapon 4). So we have dad returning home at first because he has nowhere else to go, and then later it is so he can re-connect with his children while trying to prevent Etheline from re-marrying. Then there is an interesting love triangle around Margot where Eli is having sex with her, her brother Richie loves her in a non-brotherly way, and her husband Raleigh (Bill Murray, Charlie’s Angels) loves her and wants her to come home. These situations make for some interesting dialogue and scenes. Plus this summary doesn’t even include much about the supporting actors and their roles. Anyway, eventually Royal is found out and kicked out, so he leaves but continues on his quest for redemption.

The Royal Tenenbaums is a wonderfully different film that has almost too much character development (yes I do think this is possible). The plot is complicated and interesting. The only real downside to the film is that some parts are not as funny as they could have been. The leading men and women were all great, and the supporting actors were sublime. Those is supporting roles also include Kumar Pallana, Seymour Cassel, Stephen Lea Sheppard, Grant Rosenmeyer, Jonah Meyerson, and Alec Baldwin (State & Main) as the narrator.

Later.

Last updated: Saturday, October 28, 2006 05:37:39 PM

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