The Royal Tenenbaums

If it sounds bittersweet, it is, but like the best family albums, Tenenbaums is split wide with open-heartedness, and equally generous with its triumphs and failures.

This comedy-drama about a dysfunctional family of eccentric geniuses is exactly the kind of movie America could use. It's funny, poignant, laced with irresistibly flawed characters and focuses on the power of love in a family.

The film manages to be both sarcastic and sentimental. As odd as the Tenenbaums are, the family remains bound by love.

The Tenenbaums's self-referential outlook, wayward agendas, wanton destructiveness and wishful fantasy make for a highly entertaining spectacle, provided you acknowledge you're watching a churning status quo that will never alter in essentials.

With Anderson's images, seductive as they are, we can ultimately only guess -- what Margot's plays are about, or who Etheline's suitors are... And that makes Anderson's film an exhilarating experience, a real jungle gym for the imagination.

Each character, as ever, is tucked into a shell of his or her obsessions, and yet the filming itself -- the grace of Anderson's draftsmanship, as it were -- binds the figures together into a team.

The Royal Tenenbaums isn't just Wes Anderson's best film, it's one of the best films of all-time.

A family who seemingly has it all, a large collection of parents, siblings, children all under the same roof, and yet every single one of them, even Royal, still feels like an outsider.

Underneath the film’s ornate but terse facade might be a churning tangle of backstories barely hinted at.

Whether it’s his reliable favorites such as Murray and the Wilsons, or others such as Paltrow, Glover, and Stiller, the characters are a key component to the film and the casting of each role is spot on.