News
Books
Writing
Hobbies
Gallery
Links
Email Brian
Email Kerri

Unless otherwise noted,
all material on Heromaker.net
is written by Brian Murphy
© 2006.

Review Archive
  • A.I.

  • America's Sweethearts

  • American Pie 2

  • Atlantis: The Lost Empire

  • Beautiful Mind, A

  • Billy Elliot

  • Blade II

  • Blade: Trinity

  • Boondock Saints, The

  • Bourne Identity, The

  • Brazil

  • Bridge Too Far, A

  • Brotherhood of the Wolf

  • Bubble Boy

  • CQ

  • Casino

  • Cast Away

  • Cool Hand Luke

  • Count of Monte Cristo, The

  • Daredevil

  • Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo

  • Die Another Day

  • Dish, The

  • Dog Soldiers

  • Don't Say a Word

  • Donnie Darko

  • Election

  • Fearless

  • Finding Forrester

  • Flatliners

  • Frighteners, The

  • Full Frontal

  • Gangs of New York

  • Garuda

  • Godfather Trilogy, The

  • Gosford Park

  • Hard Target

  • Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

  • Heist

  • How the Grinch Stole Christmas

  • How to Marry a Millionaire

  • Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

  • Insider, The

  • Jurassic Park III

  • Kill Bill: Vol. 1

  • Ladyhawke

  • Last Castle, The

  • Legally Blonde

  • Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, The

  • Life as a House

  • Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The

  • Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The

  • Lost Highway

  • Made

  • Magnificent Seven, The

  • Manhunter

  • Memento

  • Minority Report

  • Miss Congeniality

  • Moulin Rouge!

  • No Retreat, No Surrender

  • Not Another Teen Movie

  • O Brother, Where Art Thou?

  • Ocean's Eleven

  • Ong Bak: Muay Thai Warrior

  • Others, The

  • Pollack

  • Punisher, The

  • Queen of the Damned

  • Rat Race

  • Recruit, The

  • Reservoir Dogs

  • Ring, The

  • Royal Tenenbaums, The

  • Score, The

  • Seven Year Itch, The

  • Shadow of the Vampire

  • Signs

  • Six Degrees of Separation

  • Some Like It Hot

  • Species

  • Spider-Man

  • Spy Game

  • Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones

  • Stepford Wives, The

  • Swordfish

  • Training Day

  • Transformers: The Movie

  • Transporter, The

  • Tron

  • Troy

  • Truman Show, The

  • Unbreakable

  • Verdict, The

  • Windtalkers

  • Wonderboys

  • X-Files: Fight the Future, The

  • X-Men

    		•

    FILMS

    The Royal Tenenbaums (2002)
  • Starring Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Danny Glover, Bill Murray

  • Directed by Wes Anderson

    • Every once in a while I'll be watching a movie where—within the first 10 minutes—I'll lean over to the person I'm watching the film with and say, "I love this movie." When I say this what I really mean is: a) I really love this movie, b) I will own it when it comes out on DVD, and c) from this movment on, even if the rest of the film sucked hard-boiled eggs, it would still be an OK movie.

    The fact of the matter is Gene Hackman is one of my all-time favorite actors. There's no two ways to slice the cake—he's awesome. And in this film he plays Royal Tenenbaum, a bastard's bastard who was lied and cheated and manipulated his way through life. Most of the damage was directed at his family. His three children are geniuses, though they grow up with little or no social skills—partly because they weren't like other children, but mostly because Royal was such a screwy father.

    If I had to use one word to describe this movie, I think I'd use "quirky." Unfortunately, many people use this word when they're describing a movie that they don't necessarily like, but they feel they aught to. "Quirky" is oftentimes reserved as an adjective for independent films, because, well, let's face it—a lot of indie films are strange and bizarre and quirky. Having smaller budgets, they often rely on character and story development (all of which are good things)...blah blah—OK, I don't need to delve into why indie films are quirky. Let's just movie on, shall we?

    This is an ensemble film about a family who has deep emotional and mental problems. It is alternately hysterical and touching. I find this balance incredibly nice. However, there were a few times during this film when I confused the two: I laughed at the touching moments and felt touched during the funny moments.

    Despite my complete enjoyment with this film, I'm hesistant to recommend The Royal Tenenbaums to anyone. For many people, I imagine it's one of those films that teeters on the edge of likability. Personally, I loved it. It's odd and silly and wonderful. But I know that the oddity of the Tenenbaum family may be too unbelievable for some people. To those people I'd say: Go rent something else. This one is not for you.

    There's something incredibly endearing to me about this story. Hackman's character has screwed up his entire life and now, in his golden years, is trying to reclaim any and all relationships with his children and his wife. He realizes that he's done it all wrong and wants to take it all back, to make things right.

    That's a great story right there, my friend.