The Royal Tenenbaums Turns 25 in December, and Wes Anderson's Family Is a Glorious Mess

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The Royal Tenenbaums opened in US cinemas on December 14, 2001, so it turns 25 this month. Wes Anderson made it with Owen Wilson, and it has the neat, dollhouse look that became his trademark. Gene Hackman plays Royal, the father who fakes a terminal illness to win back his family, and it is a much better film than that summary sounds.

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Gwyneth Paltrow plays Margot, the adopted daughter who writes plays and hides from the world. Ben Stiller and Luke Wilson play the other Tenenbaum children. Each of them is a little bit broken, and the film is kind to all of them without pretending they are fine.

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Anjelica Huston is Etheline, the mother who raised the children and built a career of her own. Her scenes with Hackman are some of the sharpest in the movie, and the pair make a marriage that is clearly over feel alive.

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Mark Mothersbaugh wrote the score, and the film earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay for Anderson and Owen Wilson. The slow-motion moments and carefully placed props are all part of a style that is very easy to spot.

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Which Tenenbaum do you relate to most? I will confess I have always been a Margot, which probably says more about me than the movie.