Day 1 The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) [2017]
Writer(s)
Noah Baumbach
Director
Noah Baumbach
Cinematography Robbie Ryan
Music
composition Randy Newman
Leads Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, Adam
Sandler, Emma Thompson.
Production IAC films, Scott Rudin
Productions
IMDb 7.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes 93%
I
settled down to watch this having heard that Adam Sandler received a standing
ovation at Cannes for his performance. Makes a change from all my favourite
childhood movies (Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison etc) where he plays the
stupid but lovable idiot. He made a foray into slightly less idiotic comedy in Grown-Ups
but I think we all preferred the old stuff. However, he isn’t the only one in this
movie. He, Ben Stiller and Elizabeth Marvel play the children of forgotten
artist Dustin Hoffman. Emma Thompson plays Hoffman’s girlfiend who is a social
climber of sorts, bonkers and alcoholic. As I was watching I pondered that it
was like Wes Anderson had taken a lot of coke and thrown together a movie. The
characters, dialogue and aesthetic were all reminiscent of Anderson but with
his OCD missing. It was faster-paced, more cutting wit and the shots raw and
real. I was happy to discover this was all because Noah Baumbach (Fantastic
Mr Fox, Frances Ha, Life Aquatic etc) wrote and directed it. Also a mention
to the incredible DOP Robbie Ryan (American Honey, Philomena etc). The
film itself was great. All the acting was impeccable, Hoffman especially for
me. He was so stubborn it created some spit-my-drink-out moments. My favourite
type of film, there’s a story, but it’s told in an interesting, cut-up way.
It’s more about the characters than the story. Big win for me.
Acting 4 / 4
Writing 3.5 / 4
Cinematography 3 / 4
Music 2.5 / 4
HWF rating 3.5 / 4