The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Family isn't a word... it's a sentence.
Royal Tenenbaum and his wife Etheline had three children and then they separated. All three children are extraordinary --- all geniuses. Virtually all memory of the brilliance of the young Tenenbaums was subsequently erased by two decades of betrayal, failure, and disaster. Most of this was generally considered to be their father's fault. "The Royal Tenenbaums" is the story of the family's sudden, unexpected reunion one recent winter.
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| Type | Movie |
|---|---|
| Released | 5 October 2001 |
| Genre | Comedy, Drama |
| Director | Wes Anderson |
| Starring | Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston and Ben Stiller |
| Runtime | 110 min |
| Rated | R |
| Scores | Rotten Tomatoes (average) 7.5/10 · Rotten Tomatoes 81% · Metacritic 76/100 · TMDB users 7.5/10 |
| Budget | $21 million |
| Box office | $71 million worldwide |
Where to watch The Royal Tenenbaums
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Rent or buy
You can rent or buy The Royal Tenenbaums on Apple TV, Prime Video, Google Play, YouTube and Fandango at Home.
Where to watch The Royal Tenenbaums in 56 other countries
| Country | Streaming on (price a month) |
|---|---|
| Argentina | Disney+ $15599 ARS |
| Australia | Disney+ $17.99 AUD |
| Austria | Disney+ €10.99 |
| Belgium | Disney+ €10.99 |
| Belize | Disney+ |
| Bolivia | Disney+ |
| Brazil | Disney+ R$49.90 |
| Bulgaria | Disney+ €9.99 |
| Canada | Disney+ $15.99 CAD |
| Chile | Disney+ $10990 CLP |
| Colombia | Disney+ $36900 COP |
| Costa Rica | Disney+ |
| Croatia | Disney+ €9.99 |
| Czechia | Disney+ 219 Kč |
| Denmark | Disney+ 119 kr DKK |
| Dominican Republic | Disney+ |
| Ecuador | Disney+ $11.49 |
| El Salvador | Disney+ |
| Finland | Disney+ €11.99 |
| France | Disney+ €10.99 |
| Germany | Disney+ €10.99 |
| Greece | Disney+ €10.99 |
| Guatemala | Disney+ |
| Honduras | Disney+ |
| Hong Kong | Disney+ HK$88 |
| Hungary | Disney+ 2990 Ft |
| Ireland | Disney+ €11.99 |
| Italy | Disney+ €10.99 |
| Jamaica | Disney+ |
| Japan | Disney+ ¥1250 JPY |
| Liechtenstein | Disney+ |
| Luxembourg | Disney+ €10.99 |
| Mexico | Disney+ $259 MXN |
| Netherlands | Disney+ €10.99 |
| New Zealand | Disney+ $18.99 NZD |
| Nicaragua | Disney+ |
| Norway | Disney+ 129 kr NOK |
| Panama | Disney+ $12.49 |
| Paraguay | Disney+ |
| Peru | Disney+ S/49.90 |
| Poland | Disney+ 34.99 zł |
| Romania | Disney+ 34.99 lei |
| San Marino | Disney+ |
| Singapore | Disney+ $18.98 SGD |
| Slovakia | Disney+ €9.99 |
| South Korea | Disney+ ₩9900 |
| Spain | Disney+ €10.99 |
| St. Lucia | Disney+ |
| Sweden | Disney+ 129 kr SEK |
| Switzerland | Disney+ CHF16.90 |
| Taiwan | Disney+ NT$285 |
| Trinidad & Tobago | Disney+ |
| Türkiye | Disney+ ₺449.90 |
| United Kingdom | Disney+ £11.99 GBP |
| Uruguay | Disney+ about $U522 |
| Venezuela | Disney+ |
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What kind of watch this is
Wes Anderson built a house where every object has a place and every family member has a secret. The Royal Tenenbaums follows three former child prodigies whose brilliance curdled into two decades of failure. Their parents separated after the kids peaked, leaving a void that only a sudden winter reunion begins to fill. The film runs 110 minutes, a tight and deliberate length that matches the family’s compressed history. It is a dry look at how talent does not prevent disaster. The humor comes from the gap between their past fame and their present misery. It suits anyone who appreciates a story where the biggest joke is how wrong everyone was about themselves.
What the critics said
Rotten Tomatoes reports 81% positive reviews as of October 2024, while Metacritic sits at 76 out of 100 based on 34 critics. That is a solid foundation, though audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it a C–, a gap that suggests the whimsy might be a bit too whimsical for the general public.
A.O. Scott noted in The New York Times that Hackman’s performance brought "quick precision and deep seriousness [that] nearly rescue[d] this movie from its own whimsy." Todd McCarthy in Variety called it "As richly conceived as the novel it pretends to be." Not everyone was charmed. Peter Rainer argued Anderson hasn't figured out how to be askew and heartfelt simultaneously, a critique that lands with the precision of a well-aimed shoe.
How it did with audiences
The Royal Tenenbaums cost $21 million to make and brought in $71 million worldwide, a margin that keeps the accounting happy even if the family dynamics do not. It earned a 7.5 TMDB user score, a number that suggests the audience forgave the chaos. The film settled the score with the box office, and the box office settled with the audience.
What came next for the cast
Gene Hackman swung from Unforgiven to Runaway Jury, a shift that hints at a changing center of gravity. Ben Stiller traded Meet the Parents for Night at the Museum, trading romantic comedy for museum-based mayhem. Gwyneth Paltrow moved from Se7en to The Avengers, a leap from noir to superhero spectacle. Anjelica Huston’s path from The Addams Family to John Wick shows range that defies simple categorization. These trajectories do not prove the film caused the shifts. They just happened to coincide.
Where it left its mark
The film’s structural legacy is loud. Mitchell Hurwitz, creator of Arrested Development, admitted seeing The Royal Tenenbaums made him think his own idea was dead, before he decided to proceed anyway. Jason Bateman, who plays Michael Bluth, calls the series "The Royal Tenenbaums shot like COPS." Alec Baldwin, the narrator, ranks it among his top 10 Criterion picks, citing its original tone. He even modeled Jack Donaghy’s mannerisms on Hoffman’s performance. Fashion designers have borrowed the Tenenbaum aesthetic, and Vogue called Margot a muse for Spring/Summer 2015. It is a rare style that outlived its premiere.
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TMDB's recommendations for people who watched The Royal Tenenbaums.
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Sources
- The Royal Tenenbaums on TMDB — synopsis, cast, ratings and recommendations
- Wikidata Q935105 — review scores, box office and awards (CC0)
- “The Royal Tenenbaums” on Wikipedia, by its contributors (history) — reception, audience figures and legacy, summarised and adapted here under CC BY-SA 4.0
- Where to watch and prices: Binge Boss, from TMDB watch-provider data (powered by JustWatch) and our own provider list
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