If Kevin Smith is Hollywood’s resident smart aleck, and Darren Aronofsky, its dark visionary, then Wes Anderson (along with writing partner Owen) is it’s cerebral humorist.  With the Royal Tenenbaums, Anderson has created a sometimes tedious, but slanted and brutally humorous look at dysfunctional families and the repercussions of the sins of the father. He has cemented himself as the leader in the genre of humor that either makes you cringe because you can relate, or think about, because you understand.  This is the kind of movie that you don’t know what to expect going in, and are not sure what to think when you come out, but once you think about it, you’ll realize that you’ve seen a very smart, well written, tilted, but slightly overdone piece of societal observation.

The beginning of the story, and subsequent delivery is cleverly done through the usage of a book, going chapter by chapter.  The beginning introduces us, in depth and reminiscent of Amelie, to the cast of characters and their history.  Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) is the obliviously uncaring father of three child prodigies, Richie (Luke Wilson), the tennis pro, Chas (Ben Stiller), the financial wizard who bred and created Dalmatian mice (in one of the films many quirky touches) and Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow), the adopted daughter and successful writer/playwright.  Each achieved fame at a very young age, but as the story continues, each fell on their own type of hardships.  Flashing forward 22 years, to Royal, who is either critically ill, or just critically in need of some soul cleansing, trying to reconcile with his wife Etheline, and the kids. The remainder of the story progresses, in rather trying manner at times, through the differing types of issues, ranging from dealing with the failures, to Etheline’s courtship by her business partner, to the closeness of Margot and Richie’s “relationship”, to Margot’s mysterious past disappearances, to the relationship with a neighbor child Eli (Owen Wilson), whose presence, along with Bill Murray and Danny Glover's, I struggled with, save just populating Anderson’s odd little world with more weird and quirky people.  The story is setup well enough, but in order to have any kind of power must be quicker hitting, because the lethargy and repetition tends to wear down the effect I believe.  What makes the movie work is the way that Anderson and Wilson combine all of the little oddities, without making it seem unreal.  This, combined with the continued creativity of delivery, the sharp, sometimes painful truth of the script, and the acerbically unknowing humor of Hackman’s characterization, are what make the film bearable, and later on, ring as memorable.  He is unexpectedly sharp and consistent, with his off the cuff, naturally sarcastic nature and delivery.  He makes Royal seem insulting without knowing it, and comes very easily to Hackman, who has a comic touch that he can pull out and use with great ease, as he does here.  As for the rest, Paltrow maintains the same deadpan look throughout, but with her sunken-eyed appearance and bland delivery, she suits the character perfectly, as we feel her pain. Unfortunately, for all of the good, including Huston’s haggard turn as the mother, who seems to have lost her best years, we are subjected to pointless appearances from Glover and Murray, who sleepwalk through their roles, and whose characters seem to have no discernible purpose, save romantic ties, or just to show that not everything has to make sense, or have a purpose, I guess, that is very unclear and distracting.  Most distracting of all, is the presence of the Wilson brothers in front of the camera.  They are obviously brilliant minds when it comes to creation and translation of natural humanity in an abnormal presentation, but in front of the camera, it’s another story; something I like to call the Tarantino syndrome.  It is where the creative genius and talent should remain behind the camera, rather than in front of it.  Had that rule been applied here, and one of the characters been removed, and another recast, this may have been a more pleasant and rewarding, albeit still slightly over stated, experience.

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