The Royal Tenenbaums Reviews

To be honest, it has been a while since I have this flick and I should definitely re-watch it if I have the opportunity. In fact, this is the first movie directed by Wes Anderson I have ever saw and, I remember it very well, I saw it in the movie theater when it was released. At the time, there was a lot of hype about this fairly new director and he was apparently the new US indie sensation so I was really eager to check this flick. Eventually, even though I admired the work done and even though I thought it was pretty good, I can’t say I was really blown away which would be the case with most of the movies directed by Wes Anderson. As usual, he had a really impressive cast (Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, Danny Glover), the characters were quite interesting and colorful but, somehow, I couldn’t shake the idea that the whole thing was rather shallow and a little bit pretentious. To conclude, even though I was expecting a little bit more from this flick, it was still an interesting feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in Wes Anderson’s work.

Would I want to be inducted into this particular order of nobility? Not especially, actually.

I mean, I suppose that they were all just too damn talented, or something.... One might almost ask Lady Chekhov here-- or any of them, actually-- if you're so damn clever, then why can't you figure out how to be happy.

And, although I see how often allusion is the better part of illusion, but.... Incidentally, Wittgenstein-- for all his similarity to these people-- would have despised them, I think.... And so might many other people-- more than we might assume, maybe?-- who also have been made to learn a little too well what it's like to actually grow up in this sort of family, or.... Other community.

Isn't it odd? What we come to envy is worth so little, in the end.

*shrugs* Although the flick itself is decent, I guess.

(I mean, does anybody watch these Royal Tenenbaums and say, Oh sure, that's just what I want my family to look like....

No, no.

And that's why it's funny; you gotta pull laughter from the pain, you know.)

{P.S.-- BTW, Wes Anderson's thing is, I suppose, comedy, but that's just the thing-- instead of just being allowed to have fun, comedy often has to make room for the problems that no-one else will take aboard. (Related: the pregnant teen couple is going to end up on the cover of the 'low-brow' magazine, while the readers of 'high-brow' magazines muse upon what oil will look like once we build the Starship Enterprise; if there are about forty teen couples who line up all at once, the newsmag might deign to give them about a fortieth of the space that the popular, general interest mag does.... for one.) I mean, if it's about a war, political nonsense, or a serial killer-- I mean, is *just one* murder really enough? perhaps for a very *light* drama, but for something *serious*....-- then the dramatists will take it, but if it's anything else-- your lousy parents, for example-- then it's left to the comedians like Wes here. And, in general, and unless I'm totally out of my mind, I think that drama is basically valued more than comedy, although-- yes, cliche-- that is changing, and the situation is rather different now than it was even, say, ten years ago.... Much less compared to how it was back when D. W. Griffith decided to try to make himself the new Tolstoy or whatever way back in the 1910s and 20s....

And I realize that this could be seen as too long, but.... Yeah, basically, I guess that I just like Wes Anderson, and, I don't know, 'people like us', better than all that other nonsense!}

{P. P. S. And, you know, the thing is.... That after a long series of improbable events, your house will explode: unless you ditch cable, and upgrade to DirectTV. ;) }

(8/10)

Varias partes de la película se sienten demasiado extravagantes y ajenas pero también hay muchas otras que son divertidas, tranquilamente emotivas o incluso memorables. La actuación de Gene Hackman, especialmente su apresurada forma de hablar, es bastante buena así como la de Gwyneth Paltrow cuyo personaje tiene cierta presencia Nico-esca e incluso la actuación de Ben Stiller resulta destacable al mostrar un rango de actuación más amplio de lo acostumbrado.

Moving and intelligent comedy-drama about a family of once-successful children who have now fallen apart after the divorce of their parents and complete lack of responsibility shown by their father.
The story is deep and honest, with very real issues tackled and a perfect balance of clever comedy. Gene Hackman is especially terrific, but the rest of the cast are great too. Wes Anderson's and Owen Wilson's sharp writing was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
Starring Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and Danny Glover.