The Royal Tenenbaums (thing)

Since the other nodes have all the actors, roles, and vital statistics listed, I'll get right to the point. The movie made me laugh, and interestingly enough, it made me laugh at things that most people (even crass abrasive mannered geeks like myself) would not really be able to laugh at, but are absurd aspects of human behavior that deserve to be laughed at, and that laughter is healthy for the soul and we all need it. I remember laughing out loud at something that was very funny but not socially acceptable to laugh at, and as soon as I broke the ice, everybody had a good laugh with me, even the middle aged housewives two rows back.

Here is a short list of some of its finer points without spoiling the plot any:

• The characters are painfully human, and they all have their faults and Hang-ups.
• The dialog is filled with awkward pauses that make it at once very funny and very real.
• Nobody is completely good or completely evil. Most of the hurt that is inflicted is due to insecurity and miscommunication on the part of the characters.
• As mentioned above, the movie makes light of all sorts of things that need laughing at but we as a society are for the most part too uptight/sensitive to do it on our own.

One final note, this movie I liked for a lot of the same reasons I liked The Graduate. I'm not sure I can explain the connection, but anybody who really enjoyed The Graduate might also get a kick out of The Royal Tenenbaums.