The Royal Tenenbaums at 20: Wes Anderson’s finest and funniest movie

The precise dysfunctional family film set a template for the writer-director's oeuvre and gave Gene Hackman and his on-screen offspring some of their greatest roles

I had a rough year, dad."

The whole of Wes Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums builds to those six words, one syllable each. The line carries the weight of a family entombed by two decades of failure, depression and personal rancor, but finding some small path forward, a moment of reconciliation that might keep their disappointments from defining their future. Anderson has a gift for packing big emotions into small gestures - think about the look of recognition on Bill Murray's face when he finally meets Max Fischer's father in Rushmore - and this father-son moment pays off the countless other details that make it possible. This is why Anderson's best work holds up so beautifully on repeat viewings: they're dense with feeling, yet ruthlessly economical.