I love quirky and offbeat comedies, just as long as they’re funny. Some are quirky, yes, and offbeat too, but they’re rarely funny. Director Wes Anderson is so far a master at combining all three, despite my disappointment with THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS. It’s hysterical a number of times (of course, I was the only one in the theater laughing), but it’s altogether too slow. In contrast, RUSHMORE was successful because of its pace and fantastic song score, among other things. ROYAL TENENBAUMS, however, is needlessly slow and its light 70’s, Dan Fogelberg style, music score is a royal snooze fest. They simply rob the film of all of its energy. If you ever wanted to stress the importance of music in film, this is the negative. The only exception is one brief sequence featuring The Ramones. And naturally, anything with The Ramones kicks ass. But this one brief spike in the momentum peters out just as fast as it began. Make no mistake, nothing I’ve written here is harsher than anything I overheard outside. Everyone I walked past said they hated it and that it sucked big time. While I don’t agree, for my tastes, ROYAL TENENBAUMS could’ve been better.