The Royal Tenenbaums (The Criterion Collection)

Starring:Aram Aslanian-Persico, Alec Baldwin, Seymour Cassel, James Fitzgerald (II), Danny Glover, Irene Gorovaia, Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Jonah Meyerson, Bill Murray, Kumar Pallana, Gwyneth Paltrow, Larry Pine, Grant Rosenmeyer, Stephen Lea Sheppard, Ben Stiller, Amedeo Turturro, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

In a fitting follow-up to Rushmore, writer-director Wes Anderson and cowriter-actor Owen Wilson have crafted another comedic masterwork that ripples with inventive, richly emotional substance. Because of the all-star cast, hilarious dialogue, and oddball characters existing in their own, wholly original universe, it's easy to miss the depth and complexity of Anderson's brand of comedy. Here, it revolves around Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman), the errant patriarch of a dysfunctional family of geniuses, including precocious playwright Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow), boyish financier and grieving widower Chas (Ben Stiller), and has-been tennis pro Richie (Luke Wilson). All were raised with supportive detachment by mother Etheline (Anjelica Huston), and all ache profoundly for a togetherness they never really had. The Tenenbaums reconcile somehow, but only after Anderson and Wilson (who costars as a loopy literary celebrity) put them through a compassionate series of quirky confrontations and rekindled affections. Not for every taste, but this is brilliant work from any perspective. --Jeff Shannon

Description

Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) and his wife Etheline (Anjelica Huston) had three children-Chas, Margot, and Richie-and then they separated. Chas (Ben Stiller) started buying real estate in his early teens and seemed to have an almost preternatural understanding of international finance. Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) was a playwright and received a Braverman Grant of $50,000 in the ninth grade. Richie (Luke Wilson) was a junior champion tennis player and won the U.S. Nationals three years in a row. Virtually all memory of the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums was subsequently erased by two decades of betrayal, failure, and disaster. The Criterion Collection is proud to present Wes Anderson's hilarious, touching, and brilliantly stylized study of melancholy and redemption.

Customer Reviews:

What is it with these movies?.......2007-06-17

These should be a new genre for all the wierd movies popping up like this...I bought this movie a few years ago, and could not even sell it in a garage sale, so I am still stuck with it. I HATE this movie. It has such an all-star cast- but it's awful.
What is with these movies? I mean, do people honestly find these dry, awkward, pointless, trite comdies (with no funny parts) any good?
It's a waste of film.....and nothing special.

oh criterion.......2007-06-10

i dont understand the criterion collection aside from being overpriced, but i must say, i love wes anderson

he is not a director that all can watch though - slow and lengthy films = if you love him you love him, but there is no gray

if you have never seen one of his films, i would suggest rushmore as a first dip into the movies of anderson

Too Sad To Be Funny, Too Funny To Be Sad.......2007-04-08

This is a comedy remake of The Godfather Part lll. No, really. You have the father who tries to reconcile with his broken family, only to fall back into his old conniving ways and discover that it was too late anyway. Oh, and you have the incestuous subplot. It's all there!

I was seriously dissapointed in this movie after Rushmore. But the more I think about it, the more I want to see it again. Ultimately, I think this is a movie about a guy who has spent his life running from his family thinking there was something better in life. He finally realizes there is nothing better. But he's been scamming his way through life for so long that he can't ever communicate his remorse and loneliness sincerely.

But this is a comedy, not a tragedy--even if it often borders on tragedy. I think the comedy comes from the fact that the characters have an instinct to do the right thing but they just don't know how. But knowing they are trying is good enough. Almost.

Hillarious, Intelligent, Quirky.......2007-03-09

The Royal Tenenbaums is a very rare film, the perfect blend of Wes Anderson's unique style with some of the best talent in Hollywood. While the movie is definitely open to criticism, I find the family dynamics to be scarily reminiscent to my own--minus the adopted Margot thread. A film about my family is sure to have a limited audience, since most people don't care about the same things we care about. However, if you're willing to look about some of Anderson's randomness, the heart of his film is very powerful and had me laughing more than any other film of recent memory.

Straight to the point.......2007-02-26

I'll skip the plot breakdown and try to explain what it is about this movie that I love so much. First is the characters, who are all messed up and highly unique. Their personalities are breifly described in the beggining of the movie, and their characters develop from then on. Second is the setting of the movie. The house, the gym, the city, everything has a certain retro feel. The next thing I love about this movie is the dark humor, I never thought suicide could be funny, but I was wrong! The story, the writing, the music, everything is so wonderfully integrated, another Wes classic.

Finally, Bill Murray... enough said.