The Royal Tenenbaums (2002)
89%RT Audience Score: 89%
Awards & Nominations: Nominated for 1 Oscar
11 wins & 46 nominations total
The Royal Tenenbaums is a delightful adult comedy with many quirks and a sense of poignancy. Many critics especially praised Hackman’s performance
The Royal Tenenbaums is like a family photo album, but instead of boring snapshots, it’s filled with hilarious and heartwarming moments. The Tenenbaums are a dysfunctional family of eccentric geniuses, but they’re also bound by love. The movie is endlessly quotable and visually stunning, with a whimsical tone that somehow manages to balance profound moments of hurt and loss. It’s a 21st century classic that will keep you revisiting it for years to come. Plus, have you seen that color palette? It’s a feast for the eyes!
Production Company(ies)
Caviar Flat 7 Productions, Ward Four
Distributor
Touchstone Pictures, Buena Vista Pictures, Criterion Collection
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Wide)
Filming Location(s)
144th Street & Convent Avenue, Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for some language, sexuality/nudity and drug content
Year of Release
2002
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:DTS Dolby Digital SDDS
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Aspect ratio:2.39 : 1
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Runtime:1h 48m
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Language(s):English, Italian
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Dec 14, 2001 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 7, 2004
Genre(s)
Comedy/Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, directed by Wes Anderson, written by Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson, Comedy/Drama, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Joshua Rothkopf, Jack Mathews, Jeff Strickler, Alexander Walker, Jonathan Romney, Anthony Lane, Elizabeth Richardson, Alec Baldwin, MPAA rating R, Touchstone Pictures, Buena Vista Pictures, Criterion Collection, produced by Barry Mendel, Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Dolby SR, DTS, Dolby Stereo, Surround, SDDS, Dolby A, Dolby Digital, Scope (2.35:1), Royal Tenenbaum, Etheline Tenenbaum, Chas Tenenbaum, Margot Tenenbaum, Richie Tenenbaum, Eli Cash
Worldwide gross: $71,444,482
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $118,495,144
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 942
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 12,922,044
US/Canada gross: $52,364,010
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $86,848,988
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 819
US/Canada opening weekend: $276,981
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $459,390
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,429
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $21,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $34,829,814
Production budget ranking: 1,061
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $18,755,855
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $64,909,475
ROI to date (est.): 121%
ROI ranking: 850
Anjelica Huston – Etheline Tenenbaum
Ben Stiller – Chas Tenenbaum
Gwyneth Paltrow – Margot Tenenbaum
Luke Wilson – Richie Tenenbaum
Owen Wilson – Eli Cash
Director – Wes Anderson
Producers – Barry Mendel, Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin
Writers – Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson
Director(s)
Wes Anderson
Writer(s)
Wes Anderson, Owen Wilson
Producer(s)
Barry Mendel, Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Nominated for 1 Oscar
11 wins & 46 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Nominees
All Critics (212) | Top Critics (60) | Fresh (171) | Rotten (41)
If it sounds bittersweet, it is, but like the best family albums, Tenenbaums is split wide with open-heartedness, and equally generous with its triumphs and failures.
March 16, 2020
Joshua Rothkopf
In These Times
TOP CRITIC
This comedy-drama about a dysfunctional family of eccentric geniuses is exactly the kind of movie America could use. It’s funny, poignant, laced with irresistibly flawed characters and focuses on the power of love in a family.
October 1, 2014 | Rating: 3.5/4
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News
TOP CRITIC
The film manages to be both sarcastic and sentimental. As odd as the Tenenbaums are, the family remains bound by love.
October 1, 2014
Jeff Strickler
Minneapolis Star Tribune
TOP CRITIC
The Tenenbaums’s self-referential outlook, wayward agendas, wanton destructiveness and wishful fantasy make for a highly entertaining spectacle, provided you acknowledge you’re watching a churning status quo that will never alter in essentials.
October 1, 2014
Alexander Walker
London Evening Standard
TOP CRITIC
With Anderson’s images, seductive as they are, we can ultimately only guess — what Margot’s plays are about, or who Etheline’s suitors are… And that makes Anderson’s film an exhilarating experience, a real jungle gym for the imagination.
March 4, 2014
Jonathan Romney
Sight & Sound
TOP CRITIC
Each character, as ever, is tucked into a shell of his or her obsessions, and yet the filming itself — the grace of Anderson’s draftsmanship, as it were — binds the figures together into a team.
March 4, 2014
Anthony Lane
New Yorker
TOP CRITIC
The wonderfully eclectic soundtrack helps distract from the script’s occasional flatness, as does an A-list cast.
May 25, 2022
Elizabeth Richardson
Out Magazine
Using a superb, dead-pan voiceover by Alec Baldwin, director Anderson invites the audience into the lives and secrets of each of the Tenenbaums.
January 12, 2022 | Rating: 4/5
James Croot
Stuff.co.nz
Anderson’s third film, and best overall, and one of my favorite movies of all time (20th anniversary)
December 31, 2021 | Rating: 5/5
Stephen Silver
Tilt Magazine
Sure, it’s endlessly quotable, both verbally and visually – have you seen that colour palette – but it’s the pain and sweetness at the centre that will keep you revisiting this 21st century classic.
April 28, 2021
Sophie Charara
NME
The fact that The Royal Tenenbaums is able to maintain a whimsical tone, coupled with profound moments of hurt and loss, and then still have the audacity to be an outright hilarious movie elevates it to something sensational.
March 31, 2020
Ed Travis
Hollywood Jesus
The Royal Tenenbaums is silly but full of love. It shows that even at their worst, there is always some good in every family…
November 9, 2019
Debbie Lynn Elias
Behind The Lens…
Plot
Three grown prodigies, all with a unique genius of some kind, and their mother are staying at the family household. Their father, Royal had left them long ago, and comes back to make things right with his family.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Gene Hackman’s performance in The Royal Tenenbaums was particularly praised by many critics.
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