The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

A treat of a movie! Packs an emotional punch, laugh out loud funny at times but sad at every turn, a movie that strikes a realistic tone in the presentation of family conflicts. Reminded me a lot of Little Miss Sunshine. The ensemble cast was fantastic - Adam Sandler a revelation. Presented as a series of connected short stories focusing on different members of the family I was left very involved and wanting more. It's not often I finish a movie wishing they'd given us another half hour.

Keeping things low key from beginning to end, the story presents a realistic family dynamic that's subtly dysfunctional. The ridiculously star studded cast all offer up believable, understated performances, and it's easy to find the characters relatable. The film stays so true to life that it can occasionally get a bit dull. I'd say for the most part it hovers just above being boring, but I could see someone who's used to more fast paced fare consider it's dry delivery to be a tedious slog.

I am surprised by other reviews of this film, but I think understanding this work depends wholly on whether you have ever lived with or known intimately a narcissist. It may not be pretty to watch, but it's not pretty to live either. And this movie nails it. It may be a small percentage of the population that can truly understand the subtleties of this movie and appreciate them. The skill it took to capture the complexity of these characters and to make it believable is remarkable. Baumbach paints in detail the devastated landscape of a narcissist's world. Hoffman's character displays perfectly how a narcissist's personality cannot and will not make room for anyone else's experience or emotions, especially his children's. Every conversation eventually returns to him: his needs, his opinions, his preferences, his ego, his career, his art, his place in the world. People have remarked that Hoffman is tedious and exhausting in this film. Yes. Because that is exactly the point. And Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller and Elizabeth Marvel are brilliant as the relational afterthoughts of his all-consuming ego. I would recommend this film to anyone. Not because you'll feel great after watching it but because it dares to tackle a deeply complex human subject and succeeds. And isn't that the point of art anyway?

There were several things I really liked about the movie: the chemistry between Adam Sandler and Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman's performance, and the big surprise was how good Elizabeth Marvel was as Jean.

However, there were more things that held the film back as a movie including random, overdramatized dialogue which at times was meaningful, but at other times was painful to sit through. I enjoyed the focus on the characters but the plot didn't complement this exploration enough.

One reviewer said it was Manhattan and a Jewish family, that covered it. My family is not from Manhattan nor is it Jewish and I saw us in this movie. It's a mirror of families everywhere and every color in every place. We all have "that" father/grandfather, "that" mother/stepmother, "that" sibling. Or cousin or uncle or or or. We all know that family and have lived with someone like them. It was nice to see that We are NOT alone!!