This is an interesting film...to say the least.  

The Royal Tenenbaums is a bitter-sweet story about a family of geniuses.  Chas (Ben Stiller) was a financial/real estate genius at age 16.  Richie (Luke Wilson) was a pro tennis player at age 12.  And Margot was and an award winning playwright in the 9th grade.  Since then, they have all become has-beens by mid-life.  And Royal, their dead-beat ex-lawyer father, is played to perfection by Gene Hackman.  

The story begins when Royal is evicted from the hotel he's been living in for 22 years.  He then convinces his family (from which he's been estranged for years) that he only has 6 weeks to 
live.  For some odd reason, the family lets him stay in their house.  When they find out that Royal is faking his illness, they immediately kick him out.  But it's not until this moment, that Royal realizes that he really misses his family.  From here, every character reaches the lowest part of his/her respective lives.  

Sounds depressing, huh?  Well, it's really not.  I'm not quite sure if this is supposed to be a comedy or a drama, but all I know is that it's friggin' hilarious.  Wes Anderson is quickly 
becoming one of the hottest independant filmmakers around.  His previous 2 films, Bottle Rocket and Rushmore are two of my favorite movies.  His quirky style takes a while to get used to, but once you come around, the experience is like nothing you've ever seen before.  I would HIGHLY recommend this film.  Not to mention it has a killer soundtrack.

Score: 5 out of 5

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