The Royal Tenenbaums Movie Review 2001

Anderson and Wilson's third and most ambitious film concerns a wildly eccentric family of kid geniuses who converge upon their childhood home as unhappy adults, just as their long-estranged father shows up looking for handouts and understanding, and mother is considering remarriage to the family accountant. Book lovers will appreciate the literary allusions--the Tenenbaum house seems lifted from the pages of J.D. Salinger or John Irving--and storybook styling, down to the chapter headings and gruff narration. Inventive script and quirky dialogue carry a story that sometimes becomes cartoonish, as most of the characters are one-dimensional. Some may find the film's overt weirdness a bit much, but there's a heart underneath it all. Hackman's performance as the dastardly, tactless, and yet wholly lovable Royal is a supreme comic feat. Depression has never been so fun.

Distribution

Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 500 S. Buena Vista St., Burbank, CA 91521-1120, Toll-free: 800-723-4763, URL: http://www.bvhe.com

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 108 minutes.
Originally from United States.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Writers, New York, New York, Bad Dads, Adoption & Orphans, Drug Use & Abuse, Shrinks, Interracial Affairs, Marriage, Brothers & Sisters, Period Piece: 1970s, Screen Teams: Stiller & O. Wilson, Family Drama, Director/Star Teams: W. Anderson & Murray, Director/Star Teams: W. Anderson & Murray

Screenplay

Owen C. Wilson, Wes Anderson

Cast

Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Owen C. Wilson, Bill Murray, Danny Glover, Seymour Cassel, Kumar Pallana, Grant Rosenmeyer, Jonah Meyerson, Stephen Lea Sheppard

Cinematography

Robert Yeoman

Director

Wes Anderson

Music

Mark Mothersbaugh

Other

Alec Baldwin, Pavel Wdowczak, Randall Poster, Dylan Tichenor, Carl Sprague, Karen Patch, David Wasco

Producer

Barry Mendel, Scott Rudin, Wes Anderson, American Empirical Pictures, Touchstone Pictures

Awards

Golden Globes 2002: Actor--Mus./Comedy (Hackman); Natl. Soc. Film Critics 2001: Actor (Hackman).