The Royal Tenenbaums 2001
Wes Anderson's third feature and his first of the century, written with Owen Wilson, with Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Danny Glover, Ben Stiller, Luke Wilson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, and the narration of Alec Baldwin. Sean and Amanda pick it over Rushmore, Moonrise Kingdom, and Grand Budapest because it's the bridge from indie to studio Wes: Scott Rudin producing, bigger stars, the block text and chapters and Mark Mothersbaugh score locking in the style he still uses. They read Hackman's Royal as the engine of the movie, an actor who told Anderson not to write for him and then refused to flatten into the deadpan everyone else plays. They trace the Salinger and 'Mixed-Up Files' and Richard Scarry influences, the needle drops (These Days, Me and Julio, Ruby Tuesday, two Dylan cuts, the Pat Garrett theme), and the ice-cream scene as the emotional core. Nominated for original screenplay; Hackman took the Globe.