---
title: "The Royal Tenenbaums: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-royal-tenenbaums/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/the-royal-tenenbaums"
critics_score: 70
critics_reviews: 20
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# The Royal Tenenbaums (2001): what the critics said

Critics' score 70 from 20 reviews: 14 positive, 2 mixed, 4 negative.

Most critics like this film, and many like it a great deal. The praise gathers on the writing and on Gene Hackman, whose performance as the scheming patriarch is singled out by nearly everyone, including several reviewers who otherwise have doubts. Wes Anderson’s control of tone, the detailed production design and the strength of the ensemble recur throughout the notices, and several critics find real sadness under the deadpan and judge it more accomplished than Rushmore.

The reservations are all of one kind: the style smothers the feeling. The Guardian finds the characters a quirk away from real life and cannot be moved by them; The Independent calls it over-designed and under-felt; The New York Times, reviewing from the festival, thinks the whimsy and self-regard defeat the endearing parts. The spread is wide, from full marks to outright dismissal, with the dissent leaning towards the British press at the 2002 release. Even the harshest notices exempt Hackman.

## Radio Times — Andrew Collins

Rating 5/5. 

This ambitiously original ensemble comedy follows a gifted but dysfunctional New York family reunited when the estranged patriarch feigns terminal illness. Immaculately written and brilliantly performed, especially by Hackman, it is an extraordinary fable that restores faith in American cinema.

[Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-6d682a/the-royal-tenenbaums/)

## Empire — Caroline Westbrook

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2001. 

The critic finds the film a dazzlingly original piece of work, more accomplished than Rushmore, with smart screenplay, superb sight gags and a fabulous ensemble cast. Hackman's performance stands out as particularly strong amid the offbeat eccentricities and poignant moments.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/royal-tenenbaums-review/)

## Slant Magazine — Ed Gonzalez

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 4 December 2001. 

Anderson's film is a rare beauty alive with humanity and crippling sadness, earning its joy by making an ancient cliché crackle anew. The director's obsession with failure becomes tightly bound with hope, turning death into a vehicle for joy and second chances.

[Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/the-royal-tenenbaums/)

## The Hollywood Reporter — Frank Scheck

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 5 October 2016. 

The review finds the film a deliciously absurdist comedy that demonstrates impressive artistic progression and should garner acclaim. It singles out the strongly controlled deadpan style and the emotional heft provided alongside the quirky scenario.

[Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/royal-tenenbaums-2001-review-935292/)

## The Times — Kate Muir

Rating ★★★★☆. 16 December 2016. 

The spaghetti-stranded plot is expertly untangled by Wes Anderson in this family of geniuses tale. The result is verbally astute and visually hilarious, with intricate set design worth pausing to admire.

[Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/article/the-royal-tenenbaums-2001-lkrcm2n6d)

## Time Out — TCh

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 28 May 2012. 

The film is wittier, richer and more enjoyable than major Oscar contenders of its year, a blood brother to Rushmore. It excels in its literary influences, irony masking deeper sincerity, and heartfelt comedy of unrequited love and disappointment.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-royal-tenenbaums)

## The AV Club — Nathan Rabin

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 14 December 2001. 

Anderson delivers a star-studded, ambitious ensemble comedy-drama that overreaches in the service of one of the year's warmest, funniest films. The director's affection for his eccentric characters and ideas shines through despite the messy scope.

[Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/the-royal-tenenbaums-1798192840)

## Sight and Sound — Jonathan Romney

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 

The critic highlights the film's distinctive literary conceit, wry narration and eccentric visual style as a sui generis comedy that delights through singularity and charm rather than conventional laughs, while noting its melancholy and nostalgic tone.

[Read the review](http://old.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/feature/41)

## The Telegraph — Tim Robey

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 21 March 2018. 

The film defined Anderson's house style of bespoke design, symmetrical compositions and literary voiceover, standing as his archetypal achievement despite modest awards recognition at release.

[Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/genius-budget-wes-anderson-designed-royal-tenennbaums/)

## Evening Standard

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 10 April 2012. 

The dysfunctional Tenenbaum family makes for a highly entertaining spectacle of vignettes and tableaux, with Gene Hackman's superlatively funny performance turning callous malice into goofy mischief.

[Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/life-with-a-family-of-misfits-7432902.html)

## Los Angeles Times — KENNETH TURAN

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 14 December 2001. 

Watching the film is like being spirited away to an extremely sophisticated yet completely alien reality with a hermetic, forbidding style. It is a bleak farce set in an imaginary New York-ish city, densely imagined down to the smallest detail.

[Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-dec-14-et-kenny14-story.html)

## RogerEbert.com — Roger Ebert

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 21 December 2001. 

The film exists on a knife edge between comedy and sadness with big laughs and quiet touching moments. It stands in amazement as the dysfunctional family members unveil strategies to get attention, carve out space, and find love, understanding and sympathizing with them.

[Read the review](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-royal-tenenbaums-2001)

## The New Yorker — Anthony Lane

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 10 December 2001. 

The film is a daylight answer to the Addams family, revising all theories of domestic harmony with its dysfunctional clan. For all the funny glamour of its retro styling, the communal oddity slowly hits home as more than a freakorama.

[Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2001/12/17/bloody-relations)

## Variety — Todd McCarthy

Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 4 October 2001. 

The critic finds that Anderson overreaches with an ambitious family saga that traps its story in a brittle, artificial style restricting emotional depth, though the ensemble cast and production design receive praise.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/2001/film/reviews/the-royal-tenenbaums-1200553501/)

## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw

Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 15 March 2002. 

The critic praises the witty and intelligent character drawings and the film's high IQ, bundles of wit and oodles of fun. He complains that it lacks emotional depth, being a quirk away from real life so that it is not possible to feel moved by the characters.

[Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2002/mar/15/1)

## The Independent

Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 15 March 2002. 

The critic admires Anderson's peculiar tone and refusal to conform but finds the film over-designed and under-felt, with characters reduced to quirks and little genuine emotion or laughter beyond Hackman's lively performance.

[Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-big-picture-the-royal-tenenbaums-15-9140310.html)

## Screen Daily

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 21 November 2001. 

Anderson's serio-comedy expands his distinctive sensibility with a stellar cast and ambitious scope but results in a vastly uneven film due to its literary format, stylised visuals and shifting tone. It contains brilliant episodes amid some that feel clipped or fake, though Hackman provides strong cement.

[Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/the-royal-tenenbaums/407576.article)

## The New York Times — A. O. Scott

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 5 October 2001. Festival review. 

The movie is at once endearing and unbearably show-offy, the product of a sensibility formed by age-inappropriate reading. Gene Hackman's performance nearly rescues the film from its own whimsy, but whimsy and the director's self-admiration ultimately triumph.

[Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/05/movies/film-festival-review-brought-up-be-prodigies-three-siblings-share-melancholy.html)

## Collider — Adam Chitwood

Rating B+. 3 September 2012. 

The film is a mixed bag of humor, drama and wit that works more often than not. Hackman's performance as the selfish yet charming Royal stands out, along with the story's enduring relevance.

[Read the review](https://collider.com/the-royal-tenenbaums-criterion-blu-ray-review/)

## Eye for Film — Angus Wolfe Murray

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 14 March 2002. 

The critic finds the film a waste despite its buzz and cast, with most characters stuck in ruts and the script failing to deliver after setting up an eccentric family. Imagination leaks out, leaving a gluttonous mess with a whiff of self-congratulation.

[Read the review](http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/the-royal-tenenbaums-film-review-by-angus-wolfe-murray)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/the-royal-tenenbaums.md