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Probably the first Wes Anderson film to really hit the mainstream. It also got Luke Wilson and Owen Wilson nominated for the Oscar for best original screenplay.

The Royal Tenenbaums is about the Tenenbaum family.

• Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman): former lawyer. The patriarch, distant and boozing, treats his kids very inequally. Is separated from...
• Etheline Tenenbaum (Anjelica Huston): archeologist. Spent most of her early life schooling her three genius children...
  • Chas Tenenbaums (Ben Stiller): Financial wizard. Went into business for himself at an early age selling Dalmatian mice. Had his father disbarred for stealing bonds out of his safety deposit box.
  • Margot Tenenbaum (Gwyneth Paltrow): Playwright. Known for her secrecy (isn't that an oxymoron?). Hasn't written a play in years. Spends most of her time smoking in the bathroom.
  • Richie Tenenbaum (Luke Wilson): Famous tennis player, known as The Baumer. Secretly in love with his adopted sister Margot. Very hairy and very sad.

Other important characters include:

• Eli Cash (Owen Wilson): Richie's childhood friend. Now a famous author.
• Raleigh St. Clair (Bill Murray): Margot's psychologist husband.
• Henry Sherman (Danny Glover): The new object of Etheline's affection, also an accountant.
• Pagoda (Kumar Pallana): The Tenenbaums' servant. He both saved and endangered Royal Tenenbaum's life.

The movie depicts Royal's attempts at getting closer to his family during a battle with stomach cancer. Like most Wes Anderson films, it is marked with quirky sets and costumes, as well as much deadpan humor.

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Provides examples of:

• Big Screwed Up Family
• Black Comedy
• Braids Beads And Buckskins: Eli Cash.
• Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming: Near the beginning, when Margot gets off the bus to meet Richie, and Nico's ''These Days'' starts playing...
• Four Fingered Hands: Margot, after an accident.
  • With the consequential alteration of her gloves.
• Gene Hunting: Margot attempts this at 14. It doesn't end well (see above).
• Guess Who Im Marrying: Only it's the ex-husband who has a problem with this more than the kids.
  • Chas is less than stoked, at first.
• Hey Its That Guy: Kumar Pallana is in every Wes Anderson movie. Bill Murray and the Wilson brothers (natch) are also repeat offenders.
• Incest Is Relative
• Jerk With A Heart Of Gold: Royal treads the line between this and full blown Jerkass.
• Limited Wardrobe: One of the few live action examples. Every Tenenbaums child has a uniform that doesn't really change throughout the film/their entire lives.
  • Chas then retires his (and his sons') when Royal dies.
• Love Dodecahedron: Margot is desired by no fewer than three men in the movie itself, and we see flashbacks to several other failed relationships.
• Overprotective Dad: Chas, since his wife died.
• Present Day Past: Although the characters age approximately twenty years between the prologue and the "present day" of the movie, it's still kinda the seventies...with some current music and technology.
• Pretty In Mink: Margot. She always seemed to have a mink coat she would wear whenever she felt like it, even as a girl.
• Redemption Equals Death: Though it takes a while for Royal to find out.
• Scenery Porn: Every set is adorable and quirky. YMMV.
• Teen Genius: All three Tenenbaum children are subversions/deconstructions.
• The Unfavorite: Margot, who is never allowed to forget that she's adopted, and that she's not a "real" member of the family.
• Unfunny Aneurysm Moment: Richie's suicide attempt becomes painful to watch after Owen Wilson's own suicide attempt years later (even though it was his brother's character that did it)
  • And to make it doubly painful, the song playing through the scene ("Needle in the Hay") was written and preformed by Elliott Smith, who later died of an apparent suicide.
• Walking The Earth: Or sailing the Earth, which Richie did after he learned Margot was married.
• You're Not My Father: Royal pulls a variant on Margot, and gets it thrown back in his face.
  Royal: (talking about Henry) He's not your father.
  Margot: Neither are you.

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