The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Some scenes in The Royal Tenenbaums are arranged so neatly they feel like dioramas you’re not allowed to touch. Wes Anderson parks people in the center of the frame like museum pieces, and in the middle stretch the family drama becomes a display case of sad hobbies. Richie’s lifelong crush on his adopted sister Margot is a subplot the movie finds more romantic than you will. Then Gene Hackman wrecks the display in the best way. His Royal is a liar, a schemer and a lousy father, and he’s so funny and so quietly sorry that you root for him anyway. Ben Stiller and his matching red tracksuits are the saddest joke in the house. Gwyneth Paltrow plays Margot with heavy eyeliner and a face that gives away nothing, which is somehow perfect. Bill Murray, as a neurologist parked in a bathtub watching TV, is a bonus prize. An 8.6 because it’s Anderson’s warmest movie, even when the frames run cold. $4,633 says that at the next family get-together, you quietly figure out which relative is the Royal.

What works: Gene Hackman is magnificent, and the ensemble turns a family of failures into something funny and tender.

What doesn’t: The precise, posed style keeps some characters at arm’s length, and the Richie and Margot subplot is more uncomfortable than the film admits.

Who it’s for: Anyone from a complicated family who can laugh about it, and people who like their comedy a little melancholy.