Sandler, Stiller get serious in 'Meyerowitz Stories'
For once, there’s a Netflix movie starring Adam Sandler worth watching.
As the streaming giant continues to conquer the entertainment world, the quality of its exclusive films has steadily improved. “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)” might be its best dramatic effort to date.
It helps to be the latest film from Noah Baumbach, the writer-screenwriter behind acclaimed comedy-dramas like “The Squid and the Whale” and “Frances Ha.” Typically dialogue driven and focused on the troubles of middling creative types, Baumbach movies have a specific tone where characters can seem a bit too enlightened at times. They often share their feelings with blunt eloquence that might rub certain audiences the wrong way.
It’s so important, then, to cast performers who can pitch the dialogue in a naturalistic way. Ben Stiller, a collaborator with Baumbach on “Greenberg” and “While We’re Young,” manages to strike this balance effortlessly again playing Matthew, one of three grown children struggling to maintain a relationship with their father — the once modestly successful sculptor Harold Meyerowitz, played by Dustin Hoffman.
The second child, daughter Jean, is played by Elizabeth Marvel, though she’s more of a supporting player to the story of competing brothers. The film does utilize Jean’s third-tier status in the family to great effect in the final act.
The other son, Danny, is played by Adam Sandler in another strong performance that shows the actor adding depth and feeling to one of his broad comedy character “types.” Sandler, when not sleeping through trash like “The Ridiculous 6” has been known to shine in more challenging work. Think of what Paul Thomas Anderson mustered out of him in “Punch-Drunk Love,” or what Judd Apatow found when he gave the comedian a terminal illness in “Funny People.” Even in lesser films like “Spanglish” and “Reign Over Me,” Sandler can be a surprise source of pathos onscreen.
Once a promising musician, Danny has spent his grown life raising a daughter and carrying the burden of being a failed artist in the eyes of his father. His relationships with both his father and brother are combative, though Baumbach threads their interactions with enough love and respect that the blowups seem more deeply felt.
The film is broken into chapters — the first focusing on Danny and Harold, the second on Matthew and Harold, and the rest bringing the stories together. The deep bench of supporting players includes Emma Thompson as Harold’s current wife, as well as smaller roles for Candice Bergen, Judd Hirsch and Adam Driver.
“The Meyerowitz Stories,” like most Baumbach efforts, thrives on its careful balance of slightly verbose dialogue and unglamorous performance. Sandler, Stiller and Marvel craft a believable and compelling dynamic as siblings, and the presence of Hoffman and Thompson almost always elevates material.
And like his best dramatic performances, Sandler materializes a dynamic and complex character from the mold of the “man-child” from his dopey comedies. It may not be easy to sit through most of Sandler’s output, but occasional gems like “The Meyerowitz Stories” at least takes the sting out of accidentally watching “Grown Ups 2.”
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Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.