Now Streaming on Netflix
Directed by: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Adam Sandler, Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, Emma Thompson
Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (yes that’s the full title) is the next high profile original movie from Netflix, after the Bong Joon Ho helmed Okja. It’s almost fitting that this is coming out in horror friendly October – but instead of jump scares, we have the jump cringes of Baumbach comedies. It’s a horror show, how self involved and petty these people are, and the suffering that they endure. But it’s also pretty good and pretty funny.
It also gives us another “Good Sandler.” He’s a point of derision for his broad comedies and original Netflix content, but this is a reminder that he can also be really good. He’s stellar when playing his comedy low and giving in to the drama, in films like Punch-Drunk Love and Spanglish. Josh Larsen of Filmspotting said in a Letterboxd review that this was “This might be the first Adam Sandler character I’ve wanted to hug” – that’s how I feel too, as Sandler’s character navigates sending his daughter / best friend to film school and is mired in aimlessness while crashing on the couch of his dad, formerly famed sculptor Harold Meyerowitz (a low-key Dustin Hoffman). Here you have the rage filled screams from Happy Madison films (which I do enjoy), but in the more dramatic hands of Baumbach, these yelps come off as pleading and vulnerable. His out of work musician character Danny Meyerowitz is as human as he’s been in a while. His musicianship, often played for musical comedy, is sincere here – especially in an early scene that has him and his daughter Eliza (Grace Van Patten) playing piano together and singing a song the daughter wrote when she was nine. This scene makes a later part even tougher to watch, where Eliza sends Danny her first student film, which Danny shows to the family without realizing how extremely NSFW it is (Danny’s sister Jean deadpans: “Well, that was a hard R”).
Although the material is cringey, everybody seems to be having fun playing together – Emma Thompson is fun as a drunk step-mom, Elizabeth Marvel plays the Meyerowitz sister Jean and is a down-played gem, and Ben Stiller is the favorite son Matthew who comes back from L.A. to spend time with his titular clan (surprise: he’s also pretty self involved). Hoffman is particularly good when he’s deeply feeling the perceived slights of the world – including a man encroaching onto his restaurant table, placing his glasses and extra ketchup on Hoffman’s table. In defiance and true to his insular character, he drinks the man’s wine when he isn’t looking: “This is my protest.” I could go further into the plot, but it’s essentially a NYC character story (complete with spare piano music from Randy Newman) – things happen around the family pretty much only to service disagreements and arguments and inside jokes and insults. And they work through a complicated family history of neglect and obsession through a series of segments and time-jumps. The film slows down after a while for the three adult siblings to sit and gel together, which is when the film’s heart and emotion really show.
I left the movie wondering how necessary it really was. It’s a question I ask myself sometimes – maybe it’s an unnecessary question. Any character study movie only really serves to introduce viewers more fictitious people with their own, unique perspectives on life. In that respect, the movie is… pretty interesting. The performances are lived-in and down-played and are worthy to watch. And Netflix seems like a perfect avenue for these kind of low-key stories… these kinds of Meyerowitz Stories (hey, that’s our title). Definitely not worth a theater visit, in my opinion, but worth a stream at home, which you could do right now. There are tough parts to watch, but the film brings you back with welcome humor and heart here and there.
Watchlist-Worthy? Yes, since it’s available to stream already, but be aware of Noah Baumbach’s comedic touch first – can be off-putting. This one has more heart than his usual.
