Sunday, July 13, 2014

The Royal Tenenbaums - *****

Before The Royal Tenenbaums was even made, I knew that Wes Anderson was a unique voice on the cinematic landscape, even if I wasn't quite sold on the cult popularity of Bottle Rocket and Rushmore. To me it seemed that Anderson was mixing a certain amount of populist storytelling with an obvious use of kitschy retro styling in a calculated-to-appeal to Generation Y approach that I found simultaneously entertaining and eye-rolling.

But then came The Royal Tenenbaums, and everything just clicked. Despite all the accolades for later efforts (like the recent Grand Budapest Hotel), The Royal Tenenbaums, to my mind is Anderson's greatest film creation to date.

A lot of the credit goes to the ensemble cast. In Luke Wilson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Angelica Huston, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Danny Glover, Alec Baldwin, and especially lynchpin Gene Hackman (who is always outstanding in every role he plays); Anderson has assembled a cast of some of the most underrated dramatic actors in Hollywood around the turn of the millennium - either because they were still up-and-coming, or in the case of the more seasoned veterans, largely overlooked actors whose greatest successes were from the 70s and 80s. In both cases, the talent was eager to prove themselves, steal scenes and chew the scenery, which works well with Anderson's everybody's-quirky-and-nobody-is-the-straight-man type storytelling.

But The Royal Tenenbaums hits what Bottle Rocket and Rushmore were aiming for. By acknowledging from the start that the titular Tenenbaum family is not normal, the lack of a straight man in a major role as a point of reference does not hinder this film the way it does with those prior films.

Like all Wes Anderson films, The Royal Tenenbaums demands that the audience sit tight, give up control, and observe events as they are spoon fed, the story by a narrator (in this case the affable Alec Baldwin). But if you are prepared to accept that, it can be quite engrossing for all its contrived glory.

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