The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Reviews Counted: 174
Fresh: 139 | Rotten: 35
The Royal Tenenbaums is a delightful adult comedy with many quirks and a sense of poignancy. Many critics especially praised Hackman's performance.
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 39
Fresh: 30 | Rotten: 9
The Royal Tenenbaums is a delightful adult comedy with many quirks and a sense of poignancy. Many critics especially praised Hackman's performance.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 224,289
Movie Info
Director Wes Anderson and his longtime friend and writing partner Owen Wilson follow up Bottle Rocket (1996) and Rushmore (1998) with this similarly offbeat comedy about a dysfunctional family reunion. Royal Tenenbaum (Gene Hackman) was a successful attorney who had three children with his wife Etheline (Anjelica Huston), an archaeologist. Each of the Tenenbaum kids was a precocious genius: Chas (Ben Stiller) made a killing as a child investor. Richie (Luke Wilson) was a junior tennis champ and
Watch It Now
Cast
-
Gene Hackman
Royal Tenenbaum -
Anjelica Huston
Etheline Tenenbaum -
Ben Stiller
Chas Tenenbaum -
Gwyneth Paltrow
Margot Tenenbaum -
Luke Wilson
Richie Tenenbaum -
Owen Wilson
Eli Cash -
Danny Glover
Henry Sherman -
Bill Murray
Raleigh St. Clair -
Seymour Cassel
Dusty -
Kumar Pallana
Pagoda -
Alec Baldwin
Narrator -
Grant Rosenmeyer
Ari Tenenbaum -
Jonah Meyerson
Uzi Tenenbaum -
Stephen Lee Sheppard
Dudley Heinsbergen
ADVERTISEMENT
All Critics (177) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (139) | Rotten (35) | DVD (41)
As with Anderson's Rushmore, there's a certain annoying preciousness to this film -- it's not so consistently wise or amusing as he thinks it is -- but it has its moments.
Top CriticAs richly conceived as the novel it pretends to be...
Whatever my qualms, it's still one of the funniest comedies around.
A comedy of unrequited love, melancholy and disappointment. One to savour.
Apart from Hackman, the actors look more trapped by Anderson's rigid framing, color scheme, and enforced deadpan.
Anderson is something of a prodigy himself, and he's riddled with talent, but he hasn't figured out how to be askew and heartfelt at the same time.
Despite an incredible cast, a darker tone, and every great attribute Anderson is known for, "The Royal Tenenbaums" is an exceptional drama but its comedy just doesn't compare to the likes of "Rushmore" or even "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou."
Its laughs are like stealth bombers, sneaking up on us to the extent that we suddenly find ourselves chortling even as we're wrapped up in the movie's unexpected air of melancholia.
Quirky extended-family story with dry adult humor.
What remains Wes Anderson's most poetic film is the story of a family fractured by envy and fumbling for empathy at the insistence of a patriarch, perfectly played by Gene Hackman with affection and antagonism.
The filmmaker's great conjunction picture, where every element, from casting to cinematography, found perfect alignment, bringing about Anderson's most emotionally pulling, visually arresting feature.
Despite countless unique and amazing moments, the movie doesn't quite come together--which may not, in fact, go against the director's master plan.
Wes Anderson has made his masterpiece. It's going to be hard for him to match it.
A wacky story that bumps up against one's heart as often as it does one's funny bone...
To call it merely peculiar is a gross understatement.
Forget Max Fischer - this is Wes Anderson's opus.
Anderson's film continues his exporation of dysfunctional families, this time a round done as novelistic film, with title cards for each chapter.
Mr. Anderson and Mr. Wilson are gifted artists, and I look forward to seeing them produce something that strives for more than just sustaining their own hype.
It's one of the year's very best films.
Wes Anderson simply has a unique way of looking at the world, and through him the ridiculous is made sublime. He has a hell of a distinctive style for someone his age. It would appear he might even be some kind of goddamn genius himself.
Very funny and painfully relevant two hours of entertainment.
Surpasses expectations.
Audience Reviews for The Royal Tenenbaums
Super Reviewer
-
- Chas Tenenbaum: Is it dark?
- Richie Tenenbaum: Of course it's dark, it's a suicide note.
-
- Chas Tenenbaum: Why did you try to kill yourself?
- Etheline Tenenbaum: Don't press him right now.
- Richie Tenenbaum: I wrote a suicide note.
- Chas Tenenbaum: You did?
- Richie Tenenbaum: Yeah. Right after I regained consciousness.
-
- Royal Tenenbaum: [to Pagoda] That's the last time you put a knife in me!
-
- Eli Cash: Let me ask you something. Why would a reviewer make the point of saying someone is especially *not* a genius? Do you think I'm especially *not* a genius?... You didn't even have to think about it did you?
-
- Royal Tenenbaum: This is my adopted daughter, Margot Tenenbaum.
-
- Richie Tenenbaum: I am going to kill myself tomorrow.
Discussion Forum
There are no discussion threads for The Royal Tenenbaums yet.
What's Hot On RT
John Goodman's Best Movies
Woody Allen in San Francisco
Naomi Watts stars as Princess Di
Pictures from a zombie nation
Latest News on The Royal Tenenbaums
November 11, 2010:
Wes Anderson Attracts Star-Studded Cast for Moon Rise KingdomWes Anderson is gearing up for his next film, "Moon Rise Kingdom," and he's lined up some intriguing...
October 10, 2007:
Total Recall: We Own The Night and Other Sibling ShowdownsThis week, We Own the Night hits theaters, telling the story of two brothers (played by Joaquin...
September 6, 2007:
Wes Anderson Giving Fans a Glimpse of Natalie's Portmans?The Venice Film Festival is in full swing, and Time Out London is there to report on Wes Anderson's...
Fresh Links
Featured
Movie: ID: 12907 Title: The Royal Tenenbaums Release Date: 2002-01-04 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 4 Status: 1
Family Movie Mistakes
Even the best family entertainment experiences a few blunders now and then...
The Looks of Johnny Depp
To celebrate the star's birthday, BuzzSugar looks at the many faces of Johnny Depp.
10 Egregious Product Placements
Rolling Stone wonders if The Internship goes too far... then provides 10 examples of movies that did.
10 Bad Movies That Look Great
Sometimes even terrible movies can be beautiful; here are 10 of them, from HitFix.
50 Most Classic Movie Moms
In celebration of Mother's Day, TimeOut offers up 50 iconic matriarchs from the big screen.
Promos
Follow RT on Twitter!
Spice up your feed with hourly Tomatometer updates!
Featured on RT
- James Gandolfini: 1961-2013 8
- Total Recall: John Goodman's Best Movies 19
- In Pictures: Zombie Nation! 0
- Video Interviews with Cast & Crew of Monsters University 0
- Digital Multiplex: 21 & Over, Quartet, and More 3
- RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Jack the Giant Slayer and Quartet 23
- Box Office Guru Wrapup: Man of Steel Sets June Record 110
Top Headlines
-
Has Brad Pitt Ever Made a Successful Blockbuster?
1
-
Pacific Rim Set Visit Report
0
-
Shailene Woodley Cut from Amazing Spider-Man 2
0
-
Star Wars Casting Breakdown Reportedly Leaks
0
-
Universal Picks Up Dumb and Dumber To
0
-
Sam Taylor-Johnson Directing Fifty Shades of Grey
0
-
The Logan's Run Remake Has a New Writer
1
Foreign Titles
- Die Royal Tenenbaums (DE)
- La Famille Tenenbaum (FR)
Gene Hackman is in top form here and delivers a perfect performance as a sneaky main character. But even him cannot help this film to be nothing more than a mediocre entertainment.
Wes Anderson definetly has a eye for details and a nice visual language of his own, but here he is taking his love for his own style a bit too far and the results feel stagy, artificial and forced. Most of the musical choices only adds the "art-school" feel of this film, which is clearly not a good thing. The Royal Tenenbaums is a far cry from the masterpiece that many critics claim it is.