What a family!

Well my nest post is a film review of The Royal Tenenbaums and please take my advise, it is awful!


The Tenenbaum family consist of Mom, Dad, 2 sons and an adopted daughter. They are a family of geniuses and they are very well off. Unfortunately this does not last and as the children grow up things take a turn for the worst.

We meet Royal, the Father, who is living in a hotel and estranged from his family. He decides that he needs to get back in touch with them as he is broke and needs cash. He makes a move on his son, Richie and he welcomes him back due to the fact Royal has told him he id dying and only has 6 weeks to live. Richie takes his father to the family home and discovers that he is not very welcome. Son Chas wants nothing to do with him and adopted daughter Margot also has negative feeling about his return. Royal soon learns that his family has big problems and decides he will try to help solve them.

This is going to be a big task for Royal as Chas is suffering from the loss of his wife and is treating is children like they are living on a prison camp, Margot has walked out on her husband and Richie is in love with adopted sister, none of the problems are helped by family friend Eli as he has big issues too.

Can Royal spend his last few weeks reuniting his family, will he win his wife back or will she agree to marry lover Henry and what will happen when the 6 weeks are over and Royal is not dead?

The small amount which I got to read about this film made it see like a good watch and the strong cast list only made me think so even more, unfortunately this was not the case and both me and hubby found it very strange and completely lacking in any form of comedy. The story could have been good and enjoyable it is had been slightly more basic and we got to find the information out a little bit easier but as it was I found it was slightly disjointed and moving from character to character to quickly and for me a lot was left unresolved and I had to try and understand it with limited help.

I did think this was going to be full of good characters as well due to the strong cast list but again I was left disappointed. The lead role of Royal was played by Gene Hackman and for me his was one of the best in the film. He was quite easy to get to know and understand and I felt he did a good job portraying his feelings and emotions. He was quite hard and only out for himself at the start of the film and I enjoyed seeing how he changed and grew after spending time with the family. We had one good role from the children, this came from Ritchie, played by Luke Wilson. He seemed the most normal of the lot for the majority of the film and he was able to make me understand him and get to know him but then there was a turn around and I felt that all I knew was so wrong. He managed to deliver his lines with ease and make his emotions well known. The role of son, Chas was played by Ben Stiller and I just could not take to him. He came across as daft and overly strict and protective to his children. I understood from his past why this was the case but he seemed to not know if he should be playing a straight or serious role. The adopted daughter Margot was played by Gwyneth Paltrow and she was not a good role. I had no idea what she was thinking for the majority of the film and I had a hard time warming to her, she came across as depressed and self obsessed for the majority of the film and for me she was not very good. I felt no passion from her for the role and thought she seemed bored and not interested throughout.

We did have some pretty good smaller roles and the one which stood out for me was that of Harry, he was played by Danny glover, he seemed the only normal person in the film and I felt he should have ran as far away from the family as possible. He managed to play a convincing role and did a good job with all of his lines.

The setting for the film was in the present so no real effort was needed for the sets or costumes. I did find the fact that they were a well off family made this film slightly more realistic as they had no appreciation of money or possessions and this helped me understand their selfish behaviour. The props and sets were good and I liked how over the top and elaborate some of them were. The music was pretty weak for me and there is not a single track which I can remember from the film. I felt at the time of watching that it seemed a little out of place for the story and did not help get the emotions or feelings of the characters and story across.

We did have one or two very small special effects in the film and they were good and fitted into the film and setting well. There were no massive explosions or action scenes and none were needed for the film.

The film is classed as a black comedy but neither me nor hubby understood why, I think I had one small chuckle throughout the whole film, hubby did not have any. There were no witty one liners or visual gags at all in the film and I think had the director decided to give this more of a comedy feel then it would have come across with an overall better feel and a lot easier to watch.

This is a film only review so there are no bonus features to speak about. The running time of the film is 110 minutes and I found this to be quite long enough. The rate is a 15 and I do agree with this. The DVD can be bought for just a few pounds now but I personally would not waste any money on buying it.

I am not able to recommend this film as it was lacking in so much for me, I am giving it 2 stars thought as there were 2 good actors and the story idea was a good one but unfortunately executed in a bad way. I would say that if you are still tempted to watch this film then try to catch it on the TV for free.