Review: The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

-
All in the family.

Harold Meyerowitz (Dustin Hoffman) is an artist in New York City. He didn't treat his first two children, Danny (Adam Sandler) and Jean (Elizabeth Marvel) very well. He saved all his affection for his youngest child, Matthew. (Ben Stiller) Now they're all reunited in New York and things are awkward to say the least.

I can't describe director Noah Baumbach's style. I mostly enjoy his work, but I rarely feel like revisiting any of them. This is another I likely won't go back to any time soon but I did enjoy watching it for what it was.

Adam Sandler, man that guy has been starved of good work. He's trying so hard here that he falls into the "over the top" category a bit, but you can see there's a good actor under there. As much as I joke about Adam Sandler movies, the guy does have talent and it was nice seeing him get to flex his chops a bit, even if it didn't always stick. Elizabeth Marvel, and Grace Van Patten (Playing Eliza, Danny's daughter) were the most interesting ones to me. I wanted to know more about Jean, even though her entire purpose was to be the forgotten one. A late reveal in her story brings on one of the strongest moments in the entire film. 

The editing was really choppy and I found that distracting. The level of dysfunction is almost too uncomfortable at times. I cringed during entire conversations between Harold and his children but I can't help but see how effective it really was.  For a film streaming on Netflix, this is a good enough watch.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: C+

Memorable Quote: "I can smash every car in this parking lot and it wouldn't un-fuck me up." - Jean (Elizabeth Marvel)




Comments

  1. Big Screen Small WordsOctober 24, 2017 at 6:50 AM

    This is on my watch list, I'm hoping to get around to it soon.

    ReplyDelete
  2. m.brownOctober 24, 2017 at 8:07 AM

    I think I'd be willing to give this a shot. The cast seems a bit ridiculous...in a good way.

    Hahahaha....that quote is f--king great!

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousOctober 24, 2017 at 1:06 PM

    I really liked this. I love seeing Dustin Hoffman in a meaty role.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 25, 2017 at 6:43 AM

      I know you did, and I was hoping I'd like it as much as you. It was just okay for me.

      Delete
  4. thevoid99October 24, 2017 at 3:12 PM

    Being a fan of Baumbach, I will see this just to see what he can bring out of Sandler. Yes, Adam Sandler does have the chops but prefers to cater to his base of morons.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 25, 2017 at 6:42 AM

      Which is unfortunate when you know he has things like Punch Drunk Love and Spanglish in him.

      Delete
  5. BirgitOctober 26, 2017 at 8:52 AM

    I want to see this movie because I enjoy this type of film. Even in the picture, I want to know more about the girl

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 31, 2017 at 7:06 AM

      She was my favorite character in the film! I hope you like it.

      Delete
  6. AnonymousOctober 30, 2017 at 10:36 AM

    I really like Baumbach and felt this movie channeled a lot of what I enjoy about him. At the same time there is something missing that I can't quite put my finger on. I actually really liked the performances from Sandler and Stiller.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamOctober 31, 2017 at 7:05 AM

      I liked what Sandler was trying to do, I just think he's phoned it in so much for years that he has a lot of kinks to get out before he has "it" again.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing Bobby, and the
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen
Read more

Please join me in my Favorite Movie Titles Blogathon!

-
Image
Earlier this week I made a post where I ran through the letters of the alphabet with my favorite movie titles. There were a few people that suggested I turn it into a blogathon, and I've never done that before. So here goes nothing! Since this is my first attempt at a blogathon, it's all pretty simple, and it's hopefully a quick post that everyone can join in. Rules: 1) Going through the alphabet, list your favorite movie title beginning with each letter.  2) You don't have to necessarily  like the movie to use it's title.  3) Use the banner at the top of this post in yours. 4) Please have submissions in by Friday, May 30th*. (But I'll be honest, if you send them to me after that date, I'll still add them to my post.) You can either leave a link to your post in the comments here or tweet it to me, ( @ramblingfilm )  Thanks everyone! :)  *I had to move the date back a week due to Photobucket threatening me with bandwidth issues. But
Read more