Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

The Meyerowitz Stories
2017
****
Director: Noah Baumbach
Cast: Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Elizabeth Marvel, Grace Van Patten, Candice Bergen, Adam Driver, Sigourney Weaver, Judd Hirsch, Rebecca Miller

Harold Meyerowitz has not been a great success as an artist or as a father to his three grown-up children. Danny and Jean are dedicated to their father, but get nothing in return. Their half-brother Matthew gets more love but resents his old man. Like in The Squid and the Whale, Noah Baumbach's cinematic breakthrough, this dysfunctional family feels painfully real and bitingly funny. The performances are very enjoyable, especially Dustin Hoffman as the amusingly self-centred father and Adam Sandler as the shiftless but loving Danny. My only major complaint is that Jean's part in the Meyerowitz stories is disappointingly brief.