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'Tenenbaums' overflows with humor, talent
 Harold John Behling
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 Media Credit: Publicity photo Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow and Gene Hackman star in “The Royal Tenenbaums,” now playing at Parkwood 18 Theaters. Hackman recently won a Golden Globe award for his portrayal of dead-beat Royal Tenenbaum.
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I’m very touched by the sense of unity in Hollywood we’ve been seeing recently. First, the all star cast of Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Andy Garcia and Matt Damon take pay cuts and work cooperatively to re-make the classic “Ocean’s 11.”
Then “The Royal Tenenbaums” comes out with an equally amazing cast showcasing the wit of writer/director Wes Anderson.
Gene Hackman earns a Golden Globe award for his portrayal of Royal Tenenbaum, the scoundrel dead-beat dad of the wonderfully odd and dysfunctional Tenenbaum family. The family consists of wife Etheline (played by Angelica Huston), sons Richie and Chaz (played by Luke Wilson and Ben Stiller respectively), and daughter Margot(Gwyneth Paltrow).
The supporting roles played by Bill Murray, Danny Glover and Owen Wilson are crucial and so outstanding that they don’t appear to be small roles.
The Tenenbaum kids all experience great success as children, and then disappointing declines as adults which results in all of them moving back home with their mother.
Royal, seeing this as an opportunity to thwart his wife’s remarriage, feigns a terminal illness and moves back into the house to make up for lost time with his now-grown kids.
The comedy of this movie covers a wide range from the crude and slapstick moments to the highly mature intellectual jokes and scorching dry humor that has made Wes Anderson famous.
All of his trademarks are here. Children acting like adults, adults acting like children, everyone seeming to have their own quirky or ridiculous behavior.
But this third attempt has the comedic range Anderson’s previous two films (“Rushmore” and “Bottle Rocket”) didn’t and keeps an aggressive pace, while still giving the audience the perfect amount of time to recover in-between laughs.
The acting is flawless. Most notable is Hackman as the blunt and down-right despicable dad that you for some reason can’t totally condemn. Murray adds his small role to achieve some big laughs as Margot’s husband Raleigh St. Clair, as does Glover as Etheline’s new love interest Henry Sherman.
Hilarious, and ridiculously over-serious “The Royal Tenenbaums” hides its darker subject matter in humor, but at the same time brings the serious themes to attention. It doesn’t allow the audience to leave with only laughter, but forces them to record a thoughtful observation about life. “The Royal Tenenbaums” is Anderson’s best accomplishment to date, perfectly using his bizarre sense of humor and original style along with phenomenal acting.
Harold John Behling can be reached at: [email protected]
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