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| Genre: | Comedy |
| Year: | 2001 |
| Rating: | R |
| Length: | 1h 50mins |
| Cast: | Wes Anderson, Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller |
An offbeat, charming, and exceedingly dysfunctional family of overachievers comes to life in The Royal Tenenbaums, director Wes Anderson's follow-up to his delightful Rushmore. Gene Hackman stars as the eponymous patriarch, an irresponsible but lovable rogue who deserts his wife (Anjelica Huston) and three extremely precocious children, only to find them emotionally scarred and embittered when he returns to the fold 20 years later. The cast is a marvel here: Hackman revels as the shamelessly manipulative shyster with a gold-plated heart, while perfect casting frees up Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, and Luke Wilson to deliver nicely understated performances as the grown Tenenbaum children. Adding to this carefully balanced blend of personalities are the likes of Bill Murray, Danny Glover, and scene stealer Owen Wilson (who co-wrote the screenplay). The film's fairy-tale atmosphere is nurtured with a combination of warmth, deadpan humor, and comic-book sensibility. Some characters wear the same costumes throughout (an amusing touch that adds a dash of archetypal resonance), and a brilliant voice-over narration by Alec Baldwin adds to the aura of fantasy. As in Rushmore, music also plays a key role. A mix of perfectly chosen pop songs and an original score by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh ground the film's exquisitely controlled tone. Yet despite its quirks, Tenenbaums falls squarely in the genre of dysfunctional family dramas typified by films like Terms of Endearment and The World According to Garp. And while it stops short of the more heartrending extremes of those films, Anderson's entry manages to find more than its share of touching moments. The result is a film that seems fresh and yet reassuringly familiar, as lovable for its veneer of eccentricity as it is for the simple human truths revealed beneath. Gregory Baird
This year's quirkiest big-studio release has to be Wes Anderson's J. D. Salinger-esque comedy about a family of dysfunctional geniuses. Written by Anderson and his Rushmore coauthor, Owen Wilson, The Royal Tenenbaums received an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. It also features one of the year's best performances: Gene Hackman as the clan's cheerfully malignant patriarch. Tenenbaumsgets the royal treatment with this delectable DVD, featuring among its many riches numerous "Easter eggs" and a making-of documentary directed by the legendary Albert Maysles.
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