Rating: 
Summary: Vastly Overrated
Review: The popular thing to do with 'The Royal Tennenbaums' is to hail it as some kind of a 'modern classic'; you view it with high expectations and you expect to feel like some kind of an uneducated rube if you do not laugh like an Ivy League Snob throughout. Unfortunately, the film in reality is a pretentious little sub-Art House flick made by mainstream filmmakers who have a need to prove they are not Steven Spielberg, James Cameron, Roland Emmerich or Michael Bay; these writers and directors are overly desperate to prove that they are much smarter than their audience (in my opinion, a common fault with the new trend of 'Gen-X' filmmakers). Like 'Rushmore' and 'Election', this film is populated with self-absorbed characters that are all but totally unlikable (another bad trend from this new generation of 'hip' annoying filmmakers), which in the end makes you unsure of how you want the film to resolve itself in the end. The cast is certainly noteworthy, and a particular mention should go to Gene Hackman, who is excellent (as we have come to expect) as the Family Patriarch who is trying to mend some long-burned bridges late in life. Gwyneth Paltrow looks great and gives a solid low-key performance as well. Danny Glover and (particularly) Bill Murray are all but wasted in supporting roles. The cast as a whole does a great job, and they are easily the best part of the production; the film is almost worth seeing for the great work of the 'all star' cast. It is too bad...that the filmmakers were so desperate to prove how quirky they can be. Otherwise, this might have been as good as many of the highfalutin' Cinema Snobs out there would have you believe.
Rating: 
Summary: Gotcha!
Review: Numerous people who have reviewed this movie got suckered in to the theaters by the trailers. They thought, "Ben Stiller in an athletic suit with a bad haircut? Oh, yeah, this oughta be funny!" I certainly was expecting slapstick too. I had forgotten who directed the movie. But I settled right in anyway to the fact that I was not going to bust a gut watching this. The Royal Tenenbaums is the newest, most hi-profile addition to the genre of independent tragicomedy, the kind of stuff that say, Todd Solondz and the Coens do that's really odd, but you don't want to laugh too hard, because the characters are having a time of it. Wes Anderson, the director of the movie, has given this genre Bottle Rocket and Rushmore. Rushmore is his crowning achievement so far, but Tenenbaums is no slouch. Sorry if you didn't laugh like a hyena during the movie. Sorry if you couldn't deal with what this film was instead of what it wasn't-you've probably missed one of the more well done films of last year. Now I hate saying things like that, because I hate movie snobs. I don't like everything that is 'independent' or 'arty'. I just think some people rented or went to the wrong movie. Those of us who recognize the genre and like it, will be quite satisfied with this portrait of a wealthy, gifted family that splinters into eccentricity due to a lack of guidance and love by its patriarch, and the sly way he tries to sneak back into their strange lives by faking terminal illness. Everyone in the cast is on top of their game here, except maybe Gwyneth Paltrow,whom I don't think much of anyway. Great movie for those who know what theyre in for, but the rest of you got fooled!
Rating: 
Summary: Superb
Review: This delightfully original and offbeat comedy is made even more amusing because its played by such a deadpan, mainstream cast: you only have to look at Gene Hackman as Royal Tenenbaum to laugh. The script is hilarious without requiring the gross-out humor of the Farrelly brothers. (Check out the paintings in writer Elijah's apartment.) This has its slapstick moments, but it's ultimately aiming for something higher. It's a story about familial alienation and reconciliation, and comedy is just the right medium for tackling it.
Rating:
Summary: Sure to Give you a Royal Laugh
Review: royal Tenenbaum was not a very good father or husband. But he's looking to make ammends for all that when he's dying by calling & reuniting the whole family together once again.sorry, but I can't really say more withut ruining a lot of good things for you! this movie will give you mnay laughs & smirks as you read through the history of the tenenbaums.I reccomend this!
Rating:
Summary: It's a Royal something....
Review: This movie was slow and overly contrived. I don't know if it was due to a bad screenplay or bad direction but this movie never really flows. I am a big fan of quirky, off-beat comedies, but this film was a waste of major talent. The actors gave good performances, however this movie is barely worth seeing.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the worst movies ever made
Review: This got rave reviews in the nearby big-city paper and a coveted A+ rating, something rarely given. I watched it in disbelief. There was little actual acting, just deadpan recitation of lines. There was not much plot, and not much reason to like any of the characters. There are just far too many really good movies out on DVD now to waste money on this over-hyped piece of pretentiousness.
Rating: 
Summary: How about 3 and a half stars
Review: I had a really hard time deciding if this movie was a 3 or 4 stars. It really fits somewhere in between for me. While this movie was witty and clever and unique, it tended to drag a little towards the end. I guess I expected something "major" to happen that never happened. Still, this movie was humorous in a dry way, and well scripted. The interweving of all the members of the Tenenbaum family into conflicts, such as the father's need to be accepted, was well planned and displayed. I know the characters did not show as much emotion because that was part of the movie's concept, but it kind of irked me towards the end that no one would show more emotion about anything. Many of the actors held their own and were commendable in their roles; however, I just felt like this movie was lacking something
Rating:
Summary: Junk
Review: Once again I saw all the rave reviews on Amazon so I decided to buy it - NO this time I wised up and rented it instead, and boy am I glad I did. There were a couple of humorous parts in the movie but it was mostly just boring. The DVD transfer was terrible with an overly yellow transfer to skin tones and lots of digital artifacts. (Yes I have a fully ISF calibrated RPTV) The acting was good but the script was hopeless. I just don't get what all the fuss is over this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Wes Anderson's parallel universe expands again
Review: Did you ever sit stone faced while those around you were roaring with laughter? I certainly have. Aside from the fear that everyone is looking at me funny and might soon direct their laughter at me, the worst part is not knowing why they get it, and I don't. This problem has a flip side, of course. When I saw "The Royal Tenenbaums", I found myself among the minority that was laughing. This suggested to me that a) the rest were laughing inside, or b) many audience members were having a bad day, or c) this movie is not for everyone. Guess I'll go with "c". Come to think of it, director Wes Anderson and co-writer Owen Wilson [yes, the movie star] always create films that are quirky and not easily accessible. Some critics think that their two previous movies, "Bottle Rocket" and "Rushmore" were better, but I found "The Royal Tenenbaums" to be their best work. All three movies have a degree of sadness lurking underneath the jokes, and this element is what some people can't relate to. Should they should be laughing when such awful things are happening to these characters? To me, the situations are humorous because I can relate to them. They are part of the human comedy and are portrayed in a whimsical, "you must be kidding" manner rather than in a cruel way. The poor Tenenbaum family! Its members are beyond dysfunctional. All of the siblings were child prodigies. Charles [Ben Stiller] was a Wall Street financier while still in high school. As a kid, Margot [Gwyneth Paltrow] won a $50,000 prize for a play she wrote, while Richie [Luke Wilson] was a star tennis player. Since those glory days, life's been down hill for them. All of their lives are a mess. One by one, they wind up back home with their very odd mother, Ethel [Anjelica Huston], who is less than thrilled to see them. All hell breaks loose when their deadbeat Dad, Royal [Gene Hackman], who walked out of their lives years ago, announces that he, too, wants to return to the roost. He says it because he has a terminal illness. This isn't true. He just needs a place to crash because he's broke. If his real purpose it to make amends, he can never bring himself to say so. Not that anyone in the family cares what he does. He's probably the reason they are all totally neurotic today. Forgiveness is easier thought about than done, and I doubt even a saint would find it easy to forgive a self-possessed rascal like Royal. The cast performs this outrageous tale of family values turned upside down with finesse. Hackman has a field day with Royal, one of those people who always says the wrong thing, never apologizes for it, and then leaves the listener to figure out if he meant what he said or not. Huston is perfection as Ethel, a woman who has never really listened to anybody in her whole life. Paltrow, Stiller and Wilson are colorful as the children, all of whom are of that peculiar breed that experiences great success very young, then spends the rest of life wondering where it went. The excellent supporting cast includes Owen Wilson, Danny Glover and a very funny Bill Murray. A key to enjoying a movie by Wes Anderson is knowing that it takes place in a fantasy world. If you look closely at the setting for "The Royal Tenenbaums", you realize that, while it may look like New York City, it isn't. The family lives on 375th Street. No such street exists. Even the house itself is somehow unreal. It's the same throughout the movie. I think this is Anderson's way of showing that it's all a joke. Either you get it or you don't.
Rating:
Summary: So many great actors, so little for them to do
Review: 'Tenenbaums' starts out slowly, and for the most part maintains its plodding pace throughout the whole -- well, I guess it was really less than an hour and a half, but it felt like more. This film is trying to do too much and be too many things, and it succeeds at none of them. It is nearly impossible to care about most of the characters, because they don't really become characters: they're sketches, caricatures, without any depth or substance. Even though only Eli is really on drugs, everyone in the cast seems to be -- particularly Richie and Margot, who seem to have had all of their affect surgically removed. Don't waste your money or your time: there are lots of better films out there.
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