A lot of “art house films” with big name actors tend to be rushed out at the end of the year in the hopes of beating the Academy Award nomination deadlines. That is why Disney made certain to get “The Royal Tenenbaums,” the new film from director Wes Anderson of cult hit “Rushmore” fame, in circulation before the end of 2001. They shouldn’t have bothered.

“The Royal Tenenbaums” is yet another of those quirky films about dysfunctional families, a formula actors inexplicably seem to love. Gene Hackman is Royal Tenenbaum, the patriarch of the clan who walked out on his family thirty years ago and, now that he is broke, seeks to return home. In order to gain sympathy, he feigns having stomach cancer.

Less than thrilled to greet him are his stoic and estranged wife Ethel (Angelica Huston); his morosely depressed daughter Margot (Gwyneth Paltrow) who is adopted, as he constantly reminds her; Richie (Luke Wilson), a former tennis great; and Chas, an obsessive compulsive businessman (played against type by Ben Stiller).

The film drags on for two hours, and I spent most of it looking at my watch, wondering when the dreary ordeal would be over. “The Royal Tenenbaums” is a royal mess.
"The Royal Tenenbaums"

Starring Gene Hackman, Gwenyth Paltrow, Angelica Huston, and Ben Stiller

Directed by Wes Anderson

reviewed by Lloyd Carroll