The Royal Tenenbaums Movie

The Royal Tenenbaums
Rating:
Run Time: 108 min
MPAA Rating: R
Released: 2001
Directors: Wes Anderson
Genre/Type: Comedy Drama
Sophisticated Comedy
Comedy of Manners
Producers: Scott Rudin
Wes Anderson
Barry Mendel
Plot Synopsis by Karl Williams
Director Wes Anderson and his longtime friend and writing partner Owen Wilson follow up Bottle Rocket (1996) and Rushmore (1998) with this similarly offbeat comedy about a dysfunctional family reunion. Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) was a successful attorney who had three children with his wife Etheline (Anjelica Huston), an archaeologist. Each of the Tenenbaum kids was a precocious genius: Chas (Ben Stiller) made a killing as a child investor. Richie (Luke Wilson) was a junior tennis champ and three-time U.S. Nationals winner. The adopted Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) was a playwright who won a 50,000-dollar Braverman Grant in the ninth grade. When Royal abruptly left his family, however, it was the beginning of two decades of betrayal and failure that would scar the Tenenbaums for life. Their past resentments are bitterly held against Royal when he suddenly reappears, claiming to have six weeks to live and a desire to reconnect with his family. Typically, Royal's story is a sham, but his presence and sincere desire for absolution soon have a profound effect on the Tenenbaums, who are each dealing with thwarted desires and relationships. Among them are Richie's lifelong love for Margot, who's unhappily married to Raleigh St.Clair (Bill Murray) and Etheline's eccentric engagement to Henry Sherman (Danny Glover), who wishes to marry her. The Royal Tenenbaums also co-stars Owen Wilson and features narration provided by Alec Baldwin.

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Anjelica Huston played Etheline Tenenbaum in the 2001 Wes Anderson movie The Royal Tenenbaums.

Cast

Actors Character Born
Gene Hackman Royal Tenenbaum Jan 30, 1930 in San Bernardino, CA
Anjelica Huston Etheline Tenenbaum Jul 8, 1951 in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, CA
Ben Stiller Chas Tenenbaum Nov 30, 1965 in New York City, NY
Gwyneth Paltrow Margot Tenenbaum Sep 28, 1972 in Los Angeles, CA
Luke Wilson Richie Tenenbaum Sep 21, 1971
Owen Wilson Eli Cash Nov 18, 1968 in Dallas, TX
Danny Glover Henry Sherman Jul 22, 1947 in San Francisco, CA
Bill Murray Raleigh St. Clair Sep 21, 1950 in Wilmette, IL
Seymour Cassel Dusty Jan 22, 1932 in Detroit, MI
Kumar Pallana Pagoda
Alec Baldwin Narrator Apr 3, 1958 in Massapequa, NY
Grant Rosenmeyer Ari Tenenbaum Jul 3, 1991 in Manhasset, Long Island, NY
Jonah Meyerson Uzi Tenenbaum Sep 20, 1991 in New York, NY
Stephen Lee Sheppard Dudley Heinsbergen

Back to the topReview

Review by Lucia Bozzola
Naysayers may lament that it's too mannered for its own good, but The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) nevertheless solidifies Wes Anderson's status as an exceptionally gifted filmmaker. Shot on location in New York City, Anderson creates a finely detailed, alternative fairy tale New York that suits co-writers Anderson and Owen Wilson's uniquely gifted and tortured Tenenbaum clan. Though it touches on such dark topics as incest, drug addiction, suicide and death, Anderson and Wilson's wry sincerity turn the story of how the no longer sterling Tenenbaums make peace with the past and present into a meaningful picaresque comedy of subterfuge and resilience. Judiciously framed shots, clean editing and the inspired use of songs by Nico, Paul Simon, The Rolling Stones and The Clash mesh adroitly with the overtly literary storytelling, confirming Anderson's exuberant command of the medium. The stellar cast rises to the occasion, with Gene Hackman and Luke Wilson in particular delivering outstanding performances as the hardly majestic Royal and his Bjorn Borg-ian supernova-turned-burnout son Richie. Though they may be dysfunctional, it's easy to see why hilariously ersatz cowboy neighbor Eli Cash wants so much to be a part of The Royal Tenenbaums' world.

The Royal Tenenbaums on TV

Zip Code: 10010 · Provider: Verizon Fios Queens-Digital (Fresh Meadows) Edit
Apr 1 , 5:50 PM ET · The Royal Tenenbaums  · Channel 340 · STARZ · Duration: 115 min.
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