Film Club Review – The Royal Tenebaums
The Royal Tenenbaums
What an odd little movie. The RTs is about a family of geniuses who are incredibly quirky and dysfunctional. The father, who is a complete ass, is trying to made amends with his former wife and children. The humour is incredibly subtle, probably the most subtle I’ve ever witnessed. However, that made me want to laugh more and I was always looking for moments where I could.
What makes this movie worthwhile is that it is really endearing. Which is surprising because after the first twenty minutes or so that was the last thing I expected this movie to be. But it won me over with its sentiment in the end.
The performances are great, though Gene Hackman outshines them all. I didn’t like Owen Wilson’s character Eli and didn’t feel like he added much to the film. And even though a lot of the movie was really dry, it was broken every now and again with some great scenes like when Royal takes his grandsons out for some reckless behaviour.
I feel like I should have liked this movie more though. It was too weird and not my kind of weird. Despite that, I still warmed to it a lot.
8/10
Ian's Movie Reviews 
I love the royal tenebaums, but I agree with you when you say there’s something that stops it getting 10/10. IMO, Anderson’s Rushmore has all the quirkiness of TRT, but gels more, and is more ‘watchable’ the whole way through. TRT has some great scenes, but sometimes feels like they’re a bit disjointed. Almost more of a sketch than a film with a solid narrative…a really interesting film.
theproducerexperiment - May 15, 2010 at 1:17 pm |
I have yet to see Rushmore, though perhaps I should check it out soon.
ianthecool - May 16, 2010 at 10:29 am |