The Royal Tenenbaums - Criterion Collection

Rating:
Summary: Such polarized reviews!
Review: I love this movie. It's smart, funny, dark, beautifully stylized, and has a magnificent soundtrack. Obviously (from the evidence of previous reviews) it's not for everybody. So, a quick litmus test. Do you like New Yorker cartoons (rather, do you like enough of them not to be bothered by a certain type of pretension)? Do you find most contempory comedies a little too, well, stupid? Do you like movies that can't be easily classified into a genre? Do you love it when the chosen songs are actually the right songs and not just part of a formulaic "hit" soundtrack? If you said yes to these, then this is a movie you should see.
Do you see a cast list like this and think "I loved Behind Enemy Lines, Something About Mary, and Rush Hour? Well, you may or may not like this one, so think about the other aspects of the movie before buying. Renting is good.
Do you like movies that take no thought whatsoever, contain no subtlety, and don't assume that you're an intelligent person? Don't buy this one unless you're also very open-minded and prepared to see something subtle, dark, witty, and, ultimately, humane.

Rating:
Summary: Look ma, I'm eccentric
Review: This movie spends all its time coming up with a constant stream of eccentricities: which are all utterly superficial. If your idea of grade a entertainment is some guy smoking his cigarettes out of a long holder, talking to his son who wears sweatbands around his forehead and used to be a tennis star and continuously travels solo on ocean liners (there are no more ocean liners. Are we supposed to just swallow anything?), whose sister wears too much runny eyeliner and wrote lousy plays as a child "genius" and, to be further "eccentric," is a clandestine smoker, whose brother continuously wears adidas outfits and is paranoid about fire safety, whose... well, you get the picture. Like I say, if this sort of thing makes you feel like you're breathing the rarefied air of artistic sophistication then you're gonna love it. If on the other hand you feel that a movie peopled with artsy people is not by extension an artistic movie; and if above all you are prone to wonder how wearing a cowboy hat or a sweatband or eyeliner or a jogging suit makes you an interesting person, then you might want to shop elsewhere. Staring at a blank wall for two hours would be a far more productive use of time.

Rating:
Summary: I didn't see the whole movie, but hear me out anyway
Review: The Royal Tenenbaums sounded like it would be a good movie; after all, it had a very good director (Wes Anderson) and a star-studded cast (Gene Hackman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Stiller, and Anjelica Huston, to name a few). When the movie began I could tell the Tenenbaums were a dysfunctional (and large) family, but from there it spun out in all different directions. Every two minutes it seemed like a different subplot was emerging; and I'm sorry, but Wes Anderson's directing was terrible. Scenes were changing in awkward places, and there were weird close-ups of characters going on. On top of all that, the plot (whatever that was at this point) and the dialogue were boring. People were actually falling asleep in the theater. I left because I don't think my date would've appreciated me using her as a pillow.

Rating:
Summary: one of my favorites
Review: The royal tenenbaums combines lots of humor with real emotions. It mocks the politically correct (like how Gene hackman introduces his daughter: "this is my adopted daughter margot") and throws in random hilarity. Everyone who I have come across has either loved this film or hated it. It's very dark, and not everyone will understand it. But those who enjoy well-crafted cinematography (you can see that wes anderson was influenced by "the graduate"), a tight script, beautiful music and wonderful acting will love this film! Mark Mothersbaug scored it perfectly and the rest of the music went so well in it. I suggest seeing it more than once to catch all of the details and take in the full beauty of it. I commend the cast (and crew) on their great performances!

Rating:
Summary: Misleading
Review: My husband and I recently rented this DVD. We had both seen the previews and were expecting a really funny movie. There were some funny moments but overall I felt that the previews were very misleading. Any movie that has a character attempting to commit suicide because he is in love with his (adopted) sister, along with several other no-so-funny moments (a drugged out character running over a dog...but its ok because another dog is found immediately to take the place of this family pet), should have something of its dark nature mentioned in the trailors. I was just not expecting what I got.

Rating:
Summary: if you're looking for a movie to watch over and over again,
Review: this is it. There is a chance you may not like it, but that's probably because you're not familiar with the Director's Wes Anderson's work. Watch Rushmore and Bottle Rocket first, then watch his third and latest The Royal Tenenbaums. This is one of my favorite movies (and I've seen a lot). This is not just a comedy, it's very serious (and tragic) story filmed in a very entertaining and light way (which is very rare). The movie's screenplay was nominated for Oscar

Rating:
Summary: Total Waste of Time
Review: I truly love almost all of the stars that are in this movei ... but the movie ...! I kept thinking "I have to watch it to the end, because with this high quality cast, it HAS to get better" ... IT DIDN'T! Don't wast your time...ick!

Rating:
Summary: If you don't get it, I'm sorry for you
Review: The most common misconseption of this film was the wanting of some not so brilliant movie with sex and raunchy humor. I'm sorry for you shallow people who didnt get what you wanted. The film is truly a masterpiece.

Rating:
Summary: A black comedy about genius to the point of dysfunction
Review: This movie is a quirky, at times humorous portrait of "over-the-top" dysfunction and emotional incest in a family of geniuses. Royal Tennenbaum (Hackman) tries to work his way back into his ex-wife's and children's lives after years of distance and neglect. While there isn't one really redeemable character in the whole movie, the movie's one cohesive theme is redemption of character. The one complaint I had with the film was that Stiller, Paltrow, and Wilson portrayed the grown children as having endured years of electroshock and antipsychotic drug therapy. Zombie flat. I found it hard to relate to their emotions, or better put - lack of emotions. But to be fair, these characters are written as severely damaged goods. Hackman turns in one of the finest, three-dimensional roles of his career. The Criterion packaging and treatment of this film is exquisite - loads of extras - from a technical aspect you couldn't ask for more. If you like offbeat, black comedy, this is a gem.

Rating:
Summary: A beautiful piece
Review: Even when everything is wrong, with the help of each other, it's not too late to make it right.