Review : 'The Royal Tenenbaums' (2001)

I saw this at my local cinema when it was released and it instantly became a favourite of mine. I wasn't sure of what to expect when I viewed it, the trailer painted it as more of a screwball comedy than it actually is. As a new teenage cinephile (the worst kind) I was blown away by Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums. Its look, its story and its retro soundtrack as well as the slightly styalised performances from the awesome cast all served to put the film instantly in to my top 10 list where it has remained now for almost a decade.

Dry as dust and at once hilarious and heart-rending, The Royal Tenenbaums succeeds as the perfect example of a comedy-drama. Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson have never acted better as troubled former friends, both now lost in grief/addiction.

I have a relatively masculine taste in cinema but I'm still just a girl so I'm a sucker for a happy ending. The film has quite a bleak tone and perhaps unrealistically everything ends happily, but I believe it completely and wouldn't have it any other way. Sometimes things do end well and these characters are so tortured in the cases of the Tenenbaum children and so obnoxious in the case of their father, Royal (played to perfection by Gene Hackman) that they deserve a pleasant resolution.

Favourite scenes include Royal and Chas' face-off in a toy cupboard, Royal being removed from his 'death bed' and the incredibly moving scene where Margot and Richie admit their feelings to 2 of the most stunning songs ever written.

I love Wes Anderson's work but this is far and away my favourite of his films. The closest he's come to bettering The Royal Tenenbaums in my opinion is The Darjeeling Limited (which shares not only tone but also much of the cast...plus Adrian Brody, which always makes things awesome), another touching, unlikely family story.

I've met a lot of people who can't understand why I love The Royal Tenenbaums quite so much, or at all in some cases. And I'm hard pressed to explain exactly why either...maybe it's just a film I saw at the right age in the right frame of mind. Or maybe it's a masterpiece. Whatever the reason, it almost makes me forgive Owen Wilson for You, Me and Dupree. If You, Me and Dupree was a person, I'd knee him square in the nuts.