The Royal Tenenbaums (The Criterion Collection)

The Royal Tenenbaums (The Criterion Collection)
by Wes Anderson

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DVD Reviews of The Royal Tenenbaums (The Criterion Collection)

DVD Review: Funny, Touching & Brilliant
Summary: 5 Stars

The story of the film is thus: Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman), patriarch of a family of gifted children, has been estranged from them for close to 20 years. He has been seperated, but not divorced, from his wife for that same period of time. All in all, it appears he could really care less about them, until he discovers that his wife, Etheline (Anjelica Huston), has been proposed to by her accountant, Henry Sherman (Danny Glover, in a great understated performance, probably his best since "The Color Purple). This stirs something in Royal, so he cooks up a scheme to get back into her and the children's lives. He pretends he is dying. Don't worry, it's not a spoiler, and is clear from the very beginning.

Meanwhile, the children have all grown up twisted, in their own way. Ritchie (Luke Wilson), the oldest and Royal's favorite, was a Tennis phenom who melted down during a match and has been traveling the world on a steamer ever since, and is still clad in his tennis gear, posing for pictures as "the 'Baumer". He is in love with his sister, Margot (Gweneth Paltrow), who is adopted and a perpetually depressed playwrite, who is married to Raleigh St. Claire (Bill Murray, giving yet another understated yet hilarious pefromance), a nuerologist and lecturer. She is cheating on him with Eli Cash (Owen Wilson), Ritchie's best friend and drug-addicted English Lit professor who just gained noteriety for his book "Old Custer". Finally, there is Chaz (Ben Stiller), who was always a financial wiz, and who is obssessed with the safety of his sons after his wife dies in a plane crash. Once he moves back into their home, ther rest of the kids come back, and then Royal re-enters their lives and the movie takes off.

The film is a comedy, yes, but it is bittersweet and sad at the same time. Each of the children is severely disfunctional, primarily because of Royal. he characters are extreme, yes, but in a way I think the film was meant to be a portrait of any family where things get rocky, where favortisim is showed to one child over the others, where love is not in the equation. Eventually, the film is about redemption, and not just Royal's but some other characters as well. The story itself is beautiful and absurd enough to know that it came from the slightly skewed perspectives of Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson.

Gene Hackman would have dominated this movie had he been the only name actor cast. I'm not saying other, lesser known actors woouldn't have been just as good. I'm just saying that everyone else is so perfectly cast, it becomes almost forgiveable that Hackman was not nominated for an Oscar for this role. Almost. It's still a crime. Royal is corrupt but likable, tactless but sweet in his own way. Hackman takes the role and makes it his own. Other cast standouts are Danny Glover, showing a gift for the sly comedy Anderson and Wilson are known for, Luke Wilson in his performance of Ritchie shows a range he has not been able to stretch in his Hollywood roles, and while Gweneth Paltrow and Ben Stiller also give excellent performances, special notice must be given to Kumar Pallana as Pagoda, Royal's valet, an Indian actor used in ever Anderson film, starting with "Bottle Rocket". Here he is given a major role, and every one of his lines is a solid laugh. He really shines here, and although I'm sure you won't see him until the next Anderson film, he's worth seeing here.

The score by Mark Mothersbaugh is twinkly and beautiful, as were his scores for "Bottle Rocket" and "Rushmore". Mothersbaugh used to be in DEVO, and you get the impression that he and Anderson understand each other on a wierd level. The art direction is terrific. The Tenenbaum house looks like something out of a dream, as does the New York City Anderson shows us in the film, a gentler side to the city that is rarely seen. The film looks terrific.

The folk at Criterion have done a great job on the Special Edition. There are a couple of deleted scenes, an outtake or two, interviews with all the cast members that focus on their approach to the characters, two video features, one a serious look at Wes Anderson as a filmmaker, one a hilarious takeoff on Charlie Rose type shows. There is also a large gallery of the art produced for the film. It is simple and elegant, and captures the innocence of youth tha Anderson goes for in his early scenes in the movie. There is also a little audio on the two bizzare paintings at Eli Cash's house that must be heard to be believed.

"The Royal Tenenbaums" is a fine film by a director who is still underappreciated by Hollywood as a whole, a director who seems to be an actor's director. He's shown that he can get great performances out of anybody. This film belongs on your DVD shelf.

Description of The Royal Tenenbaums (The Criterion Collection)