The Royal Tenenbaums

Family isn't a word... it's a sentence
Family isn't a word... it's a sentence
THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS (15)
D: Wes Anderson
Touchstone/American Empirical (Wes Anderson, Barry Mendel & Scott Rudin)
US 2001
123 mins

Comedy

W: Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson
DP: Robert Yeoman
Ed: Dylan Tichenor
Mus: Mark Mothersbaugh 
PD: David Wasco
Cos: Karen Patch

Gene Hackman (Royal Tenenbaum), Anjelica Huston (Etheline Tenenbaum), Ben Stiller (Chas Tenenbaum), Gwyneth Paltrow (Margot Tenenbaum), Luke Wilson (Richie Tenenbaum), Owen Wilson (Eli Cash), Danny Glover (Henry Sherman), Bill Murray (Raleigh St. Clair)

Wes Anderson's movies really are a genre onto themselves, with the director's writing and visual style bound to divide audiences. Quirky to the point of frustration or idiosyncratic to the point of genius, there's not really much middle ground.
Proverbially, the devil is in the details with this comedy, with emphasis on unique production design, precociously profound characters and subtle visual gags.
Gene Hackman plays Royal Tenenbaun, the disgraced patriarch of a family of child geniuses. Now broke and facing homelessness, he lies about suffering from cancer to manipulate his way back into their lives and break up the relationship between his ex-wife and her new fiancé.
The dark subject of the story is ingenuously countered by the filmmaking style, balancing precariously between black comedy and slapstick farce.
As mentioned above, it won't be appreciated by all, but most will find a fine ensemble cast in their element, particularly Hackman & Gwyneth Paltrow, whilst Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson & Luke Wilson deliver some of their own best work.
7/10

The Royal Tenenbaums
The Royal Tenenbaums