samskivert: The Royal Tenenbaums (2)

07 March 2002

Though the film is sprinkled with well conceived humor, it never really coheres into anything substantial. This is not for lack of good acting, which was provided amply by everyone except the Wilson brothers. Where Rushmore succeeded in portraying quirky characters in an otherwise normal world, Tenenbaums bit off more than it could chew with too many kooks and not enough time to make any of them believable or interesting. That and Jason Schwartzman gave a vastly better performance than Luke Wilson.

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