strike7

I really don't think one can 'not get' this movie and still be an intelligent moviegoer. Just because you claim to like "American Beauty" doesn't make you an intellectual, unfortunately. "The Royal Tenenbaums" is very similar to its predecessor, "Rushmore" which I suppose didn't do well enough to merit its being mentioned in the trailers for this new movie. So be it. "Tenenbaums", like Rushmore, IS laugh-out-loud funny, but not in the way most movies are. The things happening in the characters' settings are often so hilarious that it's impossible to pay attention to what's being said. The movie's evades weirdness-for-its-own-sake, and succeeds in giving the light-of-heart but intelligent viewer the perfect experience: a movie free of cliche.

I think I'm a worse person for having seen this film. The other two people watching it with me were certainly displeased at me for having suggested it (based on another friend's recommendation). Aside from a few funny/weird-cool scenes, i.e. Crispin Glover's segment and the character of Bobby Peru, this movie is a stupid ordeal. The bad 80's hard rock, line after line of cliche, badly-directed shock scenes, and poorly dating slang and fashion sap all the fun away from this movie. "Fargo" did all the gore/botched crime scenes better, and there are far better road movies. Telling line: "Oh, Sailor. This world's Wild At Heart and weird on top." Intentionally kitsch or not, who cares? Give this a pass.

Almost nothing happens in this movie. Aside from a few powerful battle scenes, the movie is almost two hours of sitting around, waiting for the elusive enemy to show himself in the sniper's sights. The love plotline is cliche and feels tacked on, and not enough of the characters are likeable or memorable. And there are only about three of them. Why do these Russians have British accents? And there's no trace of anything German or Russian about any of the lead characters...underdeveloped story, overdone score, and historical errors.