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"The Royal Tenenbaums"
(Reviewed November 17, 2001)
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Unendurably endless and utterly charmless would-be "quirky" comedy that definitely has a spot on my "10 worst of 2001" list. I never saw director/writer Wes Anderson's critically acclaimed
"Rushmore," but this followup film is so achingly tedious and unfunny that I have no desire to find out what I missed.
Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anjelica Huston, Gene Hackman and Los Bros Wilson (Luke and Owen) play the members of a dysfunctional family of eccentrics, brought together as adults
when father Tenenbaum claims he is dying in order to keep mother Tenenbaum from remarrying. The production design is ugly, the acting is flat, the black humor isn't humorous. The only thing I liked in
the entire movie was a 10-second scene of Gwyneth open-mouth kissing a topless woman. (Hey, nothing's completely bad!)
I have an Indiglo watch, and normally I try not to "light" the thing more than once or twice a night, to conserve battery power. (I am nothing if not frugal.) But as I felt my life slipping away
whilst being bored senseless by "The Royal Tenenbaums," I checked my watch no less than three times, praying for the final credits to roll.
Avoid, avoid, avoid, avoid, avoid.
Back Row Grade: F-minus
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