Arts Entertainment At The Movies `Tadpole' Live Entertainment: Coming-of-age film wins the hearts of viewers. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday Hours: Tuesday-Thursday 5:30 - 9:30 Friday & Saturday 5:30-10:30 Sunday 12:00-9:30 (Sunday brunch from 12-3) AUDREY BECKER S 1.1V 17546 Woodward Ave. (2 blocks north of McNichols) Detroit (313) 865 -0331 Enter rear • valet parking ust for Summer! 3 NEW Salads to stir up your senses! Apricot Salmon Salad Grilled Salmon, Red Leaf Lettuce, Dried Apricots, Dried Cherries, Blue Cheese & Walnuts Strawberry Chicken Salad Grilled Chicken Breast, Mandarin Oranges, Strawberries & Walnuts Apples, Mozzarella, Dried Cherries, Walnuts, Red Onions, & Red Tomatoes Quirky comedy "The Royal Tenenbaums" offers worthwhile bonus supplements. Available Everyday! F Coupons offered good only at Farmington Hills location. 9 31005 Orchard Lake Road Just South of 14 Mile • 248-855-4866 4724' 7/26 2002 86 2002-2003 SOURCEBOOK coming soon! Anderson, who also directed the acclaimed Rushmore, is an acquired taste. If you are going to acquire the taste, try this one. Copley News Service He tells the tale of an urban family living the life of luxu- ry and achievement. Presumably set in Manhattan, nothing rom the fertile and zany minds of Wes Anderson in the city seems quite the way it's supposed to be; it's a sur- It's The Royal Tenenbaums. and Owen Wilson comes real look. That's the point of Anderson's vision, which is off- not about royalty, but about a dysfunctional family. beat and a bit gothic. Royal is the first name of the half-Jewish Hackman, as Royal, is shady and disreputable even in his father, played to aggravating perfection by Gene Hackman. glory days. When he leaves the family, things more or less This dad is selfish, cruel, dishonest and unloving. fall apart, despite heroic efforts of Anjelica Huston who Ultimately, he becomes a human being struggling with plays the wife of Royal and mother to his three kids. his failures. It is in the performance of Hackman that the Her performance is too reminiscent of Morticia Addams entertainment and the integrity of the film rest. to take totally seriously until late in the film, another Steven. H. Scheuer is the author of several books on television • Anderson sleight-of-hand. Is this real or not? Is this dark humor or a cartoon strip and movies. His wife and co-writer Alida Brill has written on page 88 `TENENBAUMS' and lectured widely on subjects ranging from the arts to politics. STEVEN H. SCHEUER and ALIDA BRILL • Open 7 days a Week! • Kids Menu • Catering 1-Ap, t̀ Oe' (Of) Farmington Hills like the Farrelly brothers' There's New On DVD Our New House Salad Celebrating our 26th year! No Hollywood flick would have the guts to savor the character develop- ment the way Tadpole does. It's an ensemble cast and all the performances are noteworthy. Bebe Neuwirth's hilar- ious and sexy portrayal of Diane, Eve's best friend, is dazzling: an outstanding Something About Mary. It's extraordinarily fun to watch director Gary Winick tease us with ensitive teens often feel they cinematic cliches and then upturn are more mature than their them effortlessly. There's no mean- peers. This is undoubtedly ness here. And no condescension. the case with the book-smart What's more, we don't have hero of Tadpole, this summer's to cringe at our hero's behav- most endearing comedy. ior in order to find it gen- The film's title refers to the uinely funny. nickname of the main character, Shot on digital video for a 15-year-old Oscar Grubman. As reported $500,000, Tadpole brilliantly performed by newcom- earned Winick the Best er Aaron Stanford, who's actually Dramatic Director award. at a 25-year-old Rutgers University this year's Sundance Film graduate, the cynical and sophis- Festival. Writers Heather ticated Grubman has decided McGowan and Niels Mueller, that girls his own age "haven't too, deserve notice for this lived enough," and don't hold clever Oedipal fable. While any fascination for him. paying delightful homage to Grubman — who fantasizes The Graduate, this new film about the hands of more experi- Aaron Stanford, left, as Oscar Grubman, discusses the offers a certain charming and enced women — feels far more at meaning of life with an incredulous friend in a scene goofy quality reminiscent of home in his father's (John Ritter) from "Tadpole." Woody Allen's best work. world of 40- and 50-something is a carefully craft- Tadpole academics and intellectuals. ed and lovingly acted film and my example of flawless comic timing. Grubman's boarding school buddy pick for sleeper hit of the summer. But what is most wonderful about cannot fathom his lack of interest in Don't miss it. ❑ Tadpole is the deft way the film flirts girls. Instead of pursuing Miranda, a with slapstick comedy — mistaken flirtatious co-ed obviously smitten by Tadpole opens Friday, July 26, at Grubman's melancholy charisma, he has identities, chance encounters and the Main Theatre in Royal Oak. glued-on facial hair — without rely- chosen a less attainable love. The object (248) 542-0180. ing on the over-the-top situational of his affections is Eve (Sigourney humor of recent mainstream films Weaver), his own stepmother. Special to the Jewish News