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The Royal Tenenbaums poster

Movies that feel likeThe Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

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.

If you loved The Royal Tenenbaums, the closest films we have are The Castle (1997), Asteroid City (2023) and A Few Good Men (1992). All three share The Royal Tenenbaums' contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is In America (2003).

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If The Royal Tenenbaums hit the spot, these will too

The Castle poster
The Castle
1997 · dir. Rob Sitch
🍅 87%★ 7.6drama · comedy

Both land wit and play at once

The difference: Trades the melancholy of The Royal Tenenbaums for an angle of its own

The quirky Kerrigan family lives together in a makeshift home they built themselves – with great pride and a bizarre attention to detail – a few yards from the edge of Melbourne, Australia's busy Tullamarine Airport. When a building inspector condemns the building and reveals that the government plans to use their land for an airport expansion, Darryl Kerrigan and his brood recruit hack attorney Dennis Denuto and prepare themselves for the fight of their lives.

Asteroid City poster
Asteroid City
2023 · dir. Wes Anderson
🍅 76%★ 6.4comedy · dramaPeacock

Wes Anderson working the same nerve twice

The difference: Made in the 2020s, in a different era of the craft

In an American desert town circa 1955, the itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.

A Few Good Men poster
A Few Good Men
1992 · dir. Rob Reiner
🍅 85%★ 7.8dramaMax

Contemplative where it counts, hopeful underneath

When cocky military lawyer Lt. Daniel Kaffee and his co-counsel, Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway, are assigned to a murder case, they uncover a hazing ritual that could implicate high-ranking officials such as shady Col. Nathan Jessep.

Good Bye, Lenin! poster
Good Bye, Lenin!
2003 · dir. Wolfgang Becker
🍅 91%★ 7.7comedy · drama

Melancholy comedy in both cases

Alex Kerner's mother was in a coma while the Berlin wall fell. When she wakes up he must try to keep her from learning what happened (as she was an avid communist supporter) to avoid shocking her which could lead to another heart attack.

Departures poster
Departures
2008 · dir. Yojiro Takita
🍅 80%★ 8drama

Both are built on the same subject: hopeful

Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant.

Like Stars on Earth poster
Like Stars on Earth
2007 · dir. Aamir Khan
🍅 93%★ 8.3drama

The same preoccupation in both: hopeful

Ishaan Awasthi is an eight-year-old whose world is filled with wonders that no one else seems to appreciate. Colours, fish, dogs, and kites don't seem important to the adults, who are much more interested in things like homework, marks, and neatness. Ishaan cannot seem to get anything right in class; he is then sent to boarding school, where his life changes forever.

August: Osage County poster
August: Osage County
2013 · dir. John Wells
🍅 67%★ 7.2comedy · dramaPrime Video

Common ground: dysfunctional family

An intense look at the lives of the strong-willed daughters of the Weston family, whose paths have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Midwest house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional mother who raised them.

DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story poster
DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story
2004 · dir. Rawson Marshall Thurber
🍅 72%★ 6.7comedyParamount+

Witty drama, and it commits to that

When megalomaniacal White Goodman, the owner of a trendy, high-end fitness center, makes a move to take over the struggling local gym run by happy-go-lucky Pete La Fleur, there's only one way for La Fleur to fight back: dodgeball. Aided by a dodgeball guru and Goodman's attorney, La Fleur and his rag-tag team of underdogs launch a knock-down, drag-out battle in which the winner takes all.

Patch Adams poster
Patch Adams
1998 · dir. Tom Shadyac
🍅 22%★ 6.9comedy · drama

Comedy built on play, twice over

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

The true story of Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams, who in the 1970s found that humor is the best medicine, and was willing to do just anything to make his patients laugh—even if it meant risking his own career.

In America poster
In America
2003 · dir. Jim Sheridan
🍅 90%★ 7.7drama

Drama with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

A family of Irish immigrants adjusts to life on the mean streets of Hell's Kitchen while also grieving the death of a child.

Swades poster
Swades
2004 · dir. Ashutosh Gowariker
🍅 90%★ 8.2dramaNetflix

Both lean on hope more than on drama

A successful Indian scientist returns home to his village to take his nanny back to America with him, and in the process rediscovers his roots.

Sunshine Cleaning poster
Sunshine Cleaning
2009 · dir. Christine Jeffs
🍅 74%★ 6.8comedy · dramaMax

Melancholy comedy, and it commits to that

A single mother and her slacker sister find an unexpected way to turn their lives around in this off-beat dramatic comedy. In order to raise the tuition to send her young son to private school the mom starts an unusual business – a biohazard removal/crime scene clean-up service.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Royal Tenenbaums’ defining feeling.