The Tenenbaums are an unusual family, living remarkable lives in an imaginary city. But when it comes down to their dysfunctions, they could be any family, anywhere.
Wes Anderson’s family of geniuses is a unique bunch. Their father, Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman), lives in a hotel, their butler used to be an assassin and the oldest son invented Dalmatian mice.
The story is set in a urban area which resembles New York, though it is the New York created from the imaginations and desires of those unfamiliar with the city, where the family lives in a huge home that belongs to their father.
Like a book, a narrator reads the beginning of each chapter before the scene actually starts.
Child actors play younger versions of Margot, Richie and Chas at the beginning of the film. The younger versions are exactly like the adult versions to the point of absurdity, like the black eyeliner Margot never goes without. Chas is an international business prodigy, Margot is a playwright and Richie is a junior tennis champion. The three children are famous and have their encouraging mother (Anjelica Huston) to thank for much of their successes.
Fast-forward twenty years. Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow), Chas (Ben Stiller) and Richie (Luke Wilson) are pale imitations of their former genius. After winning three national titles, Richie has given up tennis and now sails around the world on a yacht. Margot stopped writing plays and sits in the bathroom all day smoking, while Chas worries constantly about his two sons, whose days are programmed with inhuman precision. The family is all thrown together when the father they hate finds himself broke and homeless and moves back into his family’s home.
Despite their posh surroundings and privileged lives, throughout the film the three Tenenbaum children long for such basic entitlements as a sense of belonging, validation from their parents and other such interpersonal conflicts.
“She is my adopted daughter,” says Royal Tenenbaum when introducing his only daughter, Margot, to friends or strangers. He does so not only to rub in the fact that she is adopted but also to alienate her from her brothers, who are not adopted.
Anderson’s story is much to be expected of a non-New Yorker. The Texan-born writer and director, has portrayed a New York right out of the dreams of middle America, one based more on Big Apple fantasies than on modern urban reality.
However, Anderson does a good job delivering his universal themes through this singular family in a creative and entertaining way. The movie is delightful, and not just for the comic relief of the peculiar characters or the enjoyment of watching so many talented actors all in one movie.
Rating A
A-definitely go see it in the theater
B-a good one to rent
C-when there is nothing else, rent it
D-watch it if someone else rents it
F-don’t talk to people who rent this
