film: review

> THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS (2001)
I kept waiting for this film to get funny, but it never happened.

By John C. Lyons
Film Critic

Starring: Gene Hackman, Gweneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Anjelica Huston, and more

Directed by: Wes Anderson

Written by: Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson

Genre: Comedy

Our Rating: 4 out of 10

The Royal Tenenbaums is a silly movie about a family of geniuses with some serious issues. The cast is quite a collection of talent, new and old. Among them all, Gene Hackman delivers the standout performance of the group. Look for him to earn an Oscar nod, or at least he should, for this role. He plays the father (Royal Tenenbaum) who left his family and who now, years later, wants to be a part of it again. Once he comes back the family is in collective shock and everything goes out of control, with help from Royal's many surprises.

One thing that bothered me with Tenenbaums was that each actor played their part very well, but really had nothing more to do with them after their personalities were established. Each character (with the exception of Hackman's) is totally over-the-top and very clearly defined with little or no room for growth. Gweneth plays Margot, the adopted daughter and master playwright, who chain smokes like crazy and stares blankly the entire film. Ben Stiller plays Chas, the successful investor, who has two kids Ari and Uzi. This branch of the family tree I found the funniest of all. Chas, Ari, and Uzi wear the same sweat outfits the entire movie. Richie was a tennis pro until he went crazy and now walks around in the same tennis uniform everyday, staring blankly through his sunglasses. You see where I am getting at here? These characters have about as much depth as one of the Seven Dwarfs. You know, you have Sleepy, Sneezy, Grumpy, etc etc and they basically show their one emotion day in and day out. This got old fast for me.

The other part that bothered me was that this film is billed as a comedy. It's strange and I will give it that. But this film was definitely not a comedy. I mean, sure I chuckled a couple times, but most of the humor is intellectual stuff that you maybe make a *humf sound about and then go on watching, trying to figure out where the movie is going to go. And where does it go? Well it does have an ending (thankfully) but really at that point I could have cared less about what happened to anyone. For a comedy, the pacing was too slow (and really hampered by the storybook style intermissions), the script wasn't all that funny, and the characters lost their appeal after their initial funny stories were said and done. This movie could have been a funny 30 minute cartoon……maybe

I saw this film at the Tinseltown theaters on upper Peach Street in Erie.

PROs: Gene Hackman shined through it all. Could be a good idea for a Saturday morning cartoon.

CONs: Not funny and dull.

(02-0206)

related links:

The Royal Tenenbaums - official site