The Royal Tenenbaums

USA 2001

Dir: Wes Anderson  

105 mins

Cast: Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson

Rating: MA 15+

Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums exists on a knife edge between comedy and sadness. There are big laughs, and then quiet moments when we're touched. Sometimes we grin at the movie's deadpan audacity. The film doesn't want us to feel just one set of emotions. It's the story of a family that at times could have been created by P.G. Wodehouse, and at other times by John Irving. And it's proof that Wes Anderson and his writing partner, the actor Owen Wilson, have a gift of cockeyed genius. ...

One of the pleasures of the movie is the way it keeps us a little uncertain about how we should be reacting. It's like a guy who seems to be putting you on, and then suddenly reveals himself as sincere, so you're stranded out there with an inappropriate smirk. You can see this quality on screen in a lot of Owen Wilson's roles--in the half-kidding, half-serious way he finds out just how far he can push people. ...

Roger Ebert, rogerebert.com