Movie of the Day: The Royal Tenenbaums

So this past weekend, I decided to crawl out of the rock I must have been hiding under for the past 9 years and view The Royal Tenenbaums. Embarrassingly enough, I have even owned the movie for quite a few years and never gave it a shot. And why I never gave it a shot, I have no flipping idea! I have thoroughly enjoyed Director Wes Anderson’s films through the years (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjiling Limited, etc). They are quirky, colorful, and loads of fun.

In the Royal Tenenbaums, Anderson delivers a perfectly imperfect dysfunctional family. The Royal Tenenbaums are an eccentric family that consists of Royal (Gene Hackman), Etheline (Anjelica Huston), Chas (Ben Stiller), the original emo Margot (Gwyenth Paltrow), and Richie (Luke Wilson). Royal and Etheline have been separated for years. Royal was an unemotional rarely present parent to the three children. Royal decides he wants his family back, and knowing they would most likely not accept him, he comes up with a scheme. He claims he has cancer, six weeks to live, and wants to reconnect with his family. Out of sadness, Etheline asks her three children and two grandchildren to come live with her to cope with the tragic news. With this wacky story comes come crazy secondary stories-Richie’s love for his sister, Chas’ OCD on safety, and Henry Sherman (Danny Glover) vying for the affection of Etheline.

The Characters are so unique and hilarious; it is hard not to fall in love with them. My only complaint of the film would be the under utilization of Bill Murray. Murray plays husband to Margot and is rarely seen in the film. Being a Murray fan, I wished he would have had a more prominent role in the film. Overall I give this film an A. It truly is one of a kind!