McCarthyism writes:

"Actually the friend in the Royal Tenenbaums was on mescaline, not cocaine, though there may have been some cocaine use too. I can't remember. Whatever mescaline does to you, it can't be nearly as messed up as what the Royal Tenenbaums does. I fell out of my chair with boredome at one point. Like Jeff, I had to wonder what had happened to two hours of my life. The film has an interesting aesthetic -- at a costume party at Washington University several of my hipster friends dressed like the Ben Stiller character, for whatever that tells you -- but I'll be damned if I can figure out what the hell it was about other than mainstreaming incest, albeit non-biological incest."