Co-written by Anderson and his writing partner, actor Owen Wilson – they also penned both “Bottle Rocket” and “Rushmore” together – “The Royal Tenenbaums” documents New York’s and possibly the world’s most eccentric and dysfunctional family. The Tenenbaums are a family of geniuses, and while the three children were growing up, an icon of unrivaled success. Each member exceptionally gifted in a particular skill as teens; Chas (Ben Stiller) was schooled in the ways of real estate and international finance, Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) an award-winning playwright, and Richie (Luke Wilson) a three-time U.S. National champion tennis player. But family life, after the split up of their parents Royal and Etheline (Gene Hackman and Anjelica Huston), was such a failure that it left each of the three children crippled in failure and betrayal, unable to deal with the challenges of adulthood.

      Fast forward to the present. Chas, a recent widower with two young sons, has become totally obsessed with the safety of his kids. Paranoid that disaster will strike at any time, he constantly runs them through emergency evacuation drills -- always dressed in red jumpsuits to maximize speed and efficiency. Margot, after a torrent of desperate relationships with everyone from a reggae star to a cab driver, is a clinically depressed closet smoker who hasn’t written since her childhood, and is unhappily married to eclectic psychologist Randy St. Claire (Bill Murray). Richie, the youngest Tenenbaum, after experiencing a psychological breakdown on the tennis court, isolated himself from the world, traveling the seas aboard an ocean liner. Mother Etheline is an archeologist with many suitors, and father Royal has been blacklisted from the family as most of this is considered his fault. Broke and desperate to reunite the family after seventeen years of separation for seemingly selfish motives, Royal decides to fake a terminal illness, bringing the family back together again for one last hurrah.

      The film revolves around the family reunion staged by the wickedly self-absorbed Royal, played to utter perfection by Gene Hackman. In fact, it’s one of the best performances of his entire career. And if it seems like the role of Royal was written specifically for him, it’s because it was. In one hilarious montage sequence, he takes Chas’s two young children out for some fun, betting on dog fights, darting in front of oncoming traffic and water ballooning taxi cabs. He’s a con-man, his antics occasionally outrageous and will have you gasping with laughter, but behind it all there’s a hint of tenderness and decency.

      The film is plays out like a book, with Alec Baldwin as the narrator leading the audience through the story, literally divided into chapters. The characters are eccentric, almost larger-than-life, but the dialogue is sharp and witty, and the performances wonderfully understated. Stiller, Paltrow, Luke Wilson, and Huston all give wonderful performances that resonate with an emotional presence and desperation unparalleled in a comic feature. The humor is wacky yet controlled, and thanks to the incredible direction of Anderson, never loses its focus. At its heart “The Royal Tenenbaums” is a modern day fairy tale, albeit one that includes such adult themes as incest, suicide and neuroticism. With gorgeously textured sets and cinematography, it’s Anderson’s idealized vision of New York; a beautiful mixture of romantic fiction and depressing reality that is bursting with emotion. "The Royal Tenenbaums" is simply a film about family. The one we all love (and sometimes hate), even if we can’t put a finger on why.

Stephen Wong, 2001