Episode 12: The Royal Tenenbaums
Justin:
I think I’ve been pretty clear how much I didn’t enjoy The Royal Tenenbaums. I do aim to be respectful when I’m being critical, mostly because all I can hear in my head when I get negative is that amazing monologue by Anton Ego at the end of Ratatouille (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, just stop what you’re doing and go watch the best animated movie ever real quick). But man, this movie, and it would seem Wes Anderson, really pushes the limit on that constraint. I think, more than anything, it’s really impressive that he’s able to somehow make something that appeals to me on almost no level whatsoever. That might actually be tougher to do than to make something I love! One of the reasons that I love movies, or even stories in general, is finding characters that I can genuinely and excitedly root for. Fake people that I want to see good happen to. I know, it’s strange, but I also know you understand what I mean there. And for me, it really comes down to a certain likeability that I require in characters in order to root for them in any real way. I’ve accepted bad, or even evil characteristics from heroes in the past, but the people in this movie aren’t close to heroic, are hard to be considered even sympathetic, and to me, just really aren’t interesting in any real way. But that’s just my (possibly wrong) opinion and as I’ve stated in the past, I’m glad that movies like this exist because I know some folks do love the hell out of them. I mentioned at the top of the show that this was my first Wes Anderson experience. I think I’ve left little doubt that it will also very likely be my last.
Pete:
Wes Anderson's portrayal of the dysfunctional Tenenbaum family is as hilarious as it is touching, as poignant as it is absurd. The picture is a wonderful exploration of family, failure, and how the support of the former is necessary to overcome the latter. For all its absurdity, this film about a family of former child geniuses (how, exactly, does one become a former genius?) who peaked early in life and are having trouble adjusting to adulthood, grounds itself in genuine human emotion and empathy. It’s an impossible tightrope act for Anderson to walk, but his ability to pull it off seamlessly is one of the major reasons why he’s a director a certain segment of cinephiles have fallen in love with.
Throughout the film, in their own weird and offbeat way, this fractured family slowly begins to heal and regain what made them special in the first place. As the film is intent on pointing out, that specialness isn’t excelling at tennis, or business, or writing plays, but treating each other with kindness and love. The result is a movie that’s able to strike an emotional chord that combines deadpan irony with underlying sadness, and ultimately becomes something hopeful. It’s this kind of authentic compassion and understanding of people that turns something funny into something profound and deeply affecting. It’s the kind of movie that makes me love movies and every time I see it, I fall in love with this family and all their complexity and contradictions all over again. If Royal Tenenbaum can rescue his family from the wreckage of a destroyed sinking battleship, well, there’s hope for us all yet.
