The Royal Tenenbaums
| Year: | 2002 |
| Director: | Ben Stiller |
| Writer: | Owen Wilson/Wes Anderson |
| Cast: | Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, Danny Glover |
Could have been a much funnier comedy if it didn't just keep branching off into left field at every stage of the plot. Some funny lines, originally drawn characters (albeit hard to sympathise with) and a one in a million premise. It tells the rambling story of a dysfunctional family with three genius children (the Tenenbaums) and the people revolving around them.
The Rushmore team get even weirder and a great cast suffers for it. A great performance from all, even if you get the feeling that every piece of dialogue is to hammer the oddness of each character home to the detriment of their place in the action and story. A bizarre combination of plot, character relations and dark humour (so dark it's sometimes invisible). A very straight laced and understated performance by Bill Murray with none of his usual comic energy.