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THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS
Owen Wilson, Gwyneth
Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Gene Hackman, Danny Glover, Luke Wilson, Bill Murray,
Anjelica Huston Written by Wes Anderson
and Owen Wilson Directed by Wes
Anderson
From the writer/director of semi-cult classics “Bottle
Rocket” and “Rushmore”, Wes Anderson brings his eccentric
sensibility with the tale of the Tenenbaums, a remarkably dysfunctional family
whose problems are beyond the scope of reasonable therapy. However, despite a
very promising start, “The Royal Tenenbaums” dwells a bit too much on
its idiosyncrasies, foregoing a satisfying and engaging narrative.
Gene
Hackman and Anjelica Huston are Royal and Etheline Tenenbaums, a well to do
couple with three children, Richie, Margot and Chas. Richie is a highly
promising tennis superstar, who has won many junior championships and who will
eventually win major nationals. Margot is the adopted daughter, a brooding lass
who takes up the pen and paintbrush and receives a fifty thousand dollar grant
in the ninth grade. Chas is the young entrepreneur of the family, well versed
in litigations, dispositions and repossessions.
Sounds like a rather
good family brimming with child prodigies. The Tenenbaums have covered pretty
much all the criteria that measure success – sports, arts and finances,
however, the thread the holds this family together is rather thin. With the
separation of the Royal and Etheline, and with the children peaking at their
fields at a disappointingly early age, the Tenenbaums are in a rut.
With years of letdowns, regrets and failures, the older Tenenbaum kids
(Richie – Luke Wilson, Margot – Gwyneth Paltrow, Chas – Ben
Stiller) and a guilt-stricken Royal find their way back home one way or another
trying to mend things between them all.
“The Royal
Tenenbaums” would have been great as a short film or if taken part by part
instead of a whole. Wes Anderson and co-writer Owen Wilson (who also plays the
Tenenbaum neighbor kid Eli) successfully creates sympathetic characters, but
they erroneously under develop them. The movie was more intrigued with how odd
these children were, instead of focusing on their state of fragility, and
consequently my sympathies for them wore thin. Yes, I know they were a bit on
the stranger side of things, but I didn’t need to be reminded every time.
In addition, love stories were introduced, but they felt more strained and
forced rather than heartfelt. The relationship and supposed romance between
Margot and Richie didn’t really pan out or was fully explored. It seemed
more to instill a sense of the bizarre rather than to humanize them.
“Tenenbaums” has a great premise on the onset, but
doesn’t quite take off. Halfway through the film, I didn’t feel like
it was really going anywhere and has lost its endearing quirkiness. The
performances are strong, however, anchored by veterans such as Anjelica Huston,
Danny Glover (as one of Etheline’s suitors), and especially Gene Hackman,
as the despicable father who never forgets to remind Margot that she’s
adopted, who openly favors Ritchie, and who purposely gives Chas an embedded BB
gun pellet on his knuckle as a lesson about teamwork.
Anderson has a
great knack with the camera and a good sense of storytelling, and I know there
better things will come from him.
Just like “Bottle Rocket”
and “Rushmore”, “Tenenbaums” starts out promising, but
falters nevertheless (although “Rushmore” came the closest in packing
everything together just right). The dark humor, the fancy editing and the
all-star cast couldn’t quite salvage this movie from being dysfunctional
itself.
Film is Rated R for some language, nudity and drug content.
Running time is 103 minutes.
