Review of The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017) by Kaptenvideo — 28 Dec 2017

Noah Baumbach, one of America’s indie films’ most acclaimed auteurs, is back to tell us yet another story of defective family and relationships.

His latest was snapped up by Netflix and boasts an impressive cast including Dustin Hoffman, Adam Sandler, Sigourney Weaver, Adam Driver, Ben Stiller, Emma Thompson.

It’s about elderly father and his three adult children still competing for his affection, and the result is typical Baumbach joint, meaning slow tempo, not much happening, a whole lot of talking, and emotionally distant style.

You may not “get” it at all - and feel that there’s a curious vacuum of interesting stuff happening - or slowly learn to embrace the world he has created, which usually happens when one watches a Baumbach movie.

Critics seem to love it - indeed, “Meyerowitz” seems to be among his most acclaimed works yet - and I have liked most of Baumbach’s movies. But this time, I just couldn’t take it.

For most of its 112 minute length, it felt like a limp and soulless exercise in doing something in Baumbach style, not something that he really did.

The story comprises of three chapters, of which the middle one is close to something that could be called intriguing.

The first chapter lasting 30 minutes feels just empty, and the last is so and so, partly interesting, often just pretentious in a bad way (brothers fighting and public speaking). Yes, the movie has its own distinctive atmosphere but it wasn’t enough for me this time.

When Larry David started creating „comedies about nothing“, and managed to create a whole new modern movement of screen stories not clinging to certain genre, he always found ways to captivate and entertain us. “Meyerowitz” could be called drama about nothing, and it feels just boring.

The movie has brought a lot of acclaim to Adam Sandler in one of the leading roles, proving once again that he’s an able enough actor and can do serious stuff if he wants to.

Funny thing is, every time I watch another typical Adam Sandler comedy, I think: he can do this kind of thing forever and still be liked but doesn’t he want to do something more original, more serious… something more?

And then again, the only serious movie starring Sandler I really have dug was the first, 2002’s „Punch Drunk Love“. All the next ones are just… underwhelming. Not bad in any significant way, just not that interesting either. It’s not his fault, of course, but still… funny.