Right Royal comedy (From Western Telegraph)

Right Royal comedy

Vaughan Sivell, the Western Telegraph film reviewer is currently sending reports home from Los Angeles. He is writing from his apartment which looks out on to the famous Warner Brothers studio!.

The Royal Tenenbaums (12) Directed by Wes Anderson

Starring Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson.

This week you get to look at a film released here already, but only recently. The days when the UK gets everything sixth months late are gone (with a few exceptions).

The Royal Tenenbaums is an off beat comedy directed and co-written by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson. This film is strange. Full of slapstick comedy and odd one-liners in a bizarre but often tragic tale. Its starts in 1979, where we meet the head of the household, Royal O'Reilly Tenenbaum, played by Gene Hackman. Hes a moustachioed cad who just doesnt have any interest in his family. At one point he even shoots his son in the hand with a BB gun. He soon leaves them. His wife Ethel, played by Anjelica Huston, throws herself into bringing up their three children: Chas, Richie, and "adopted daughter" Margot and they evolve into underage prodigies. Chas becomes a wealthy banker, Margot a successful playwright, and Richie a tennis champion nicknamed "The Baumer."

Many years later Royal finds himself homeless and returns to the fold making an effort he can to make up for past crimes and lost time. ...even if it means faking a terminal illness. Accompanied by his Lurch-like Middle Eastern manservant Pagoda (Kumar Pallana) Royal finds that his brood has prospered in the 17 years of his absence but the gifted mini-Tenanbaums havent exactly reached the heights that were expected. Chas (a widower with two young boys.) played by Ben Stiller, will only wear a red jogging suit, except for funerals when hell wear a black one. The adopted daughter Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) is married to a much older man, human study author Raleigh St. Clair (Bill Murray). She also spends six hours a day in her bathroom staring at a TV. Richie (Luke Wilson) has hung up his tennis shoes following a humiliating breakdown during a televised match. Now a recluse, he focuses on and obsesses over his adopted sister while travelling round the world by boat, communicating only by telegrams. Meanwhile, Ethel their mother is now engaged to a loveable accountant Henry Sherman (Danny Glover). All in all its weird but witty stuff. The individual performances turn this film into a gem. Bill Murray is always a favourite of mine and the rest of the cast meets the Murray mark. Its Hackman however that stands head and shoulders above the rest with an incredibly funny performance. Its hard to think of many actors who turn so easily form the most demanding drama rolls to such light comedy with such class. Im not saying that Hackman is the only reason to see the hilarious Royal Tenenbaums but its a good one