Film

The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

Name: The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Released: 2017
Cast: Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Elizabeth Marvel

Family drama

Noah Baumbach's portrait of a fractured family reuniting around their aging sculptor father. It's a comedy that doesn't punch down, full of specific resentments and small humiliations that feel lived-in. Sandler and Stiller deliver remarkably tender work within conversations that circle endlessly without resolving. For anyone who's navigated family dynamics with both love and exhaustion.

TMDb rating

3.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy talky, character-first family comedy where the jokes come out of wounded egos and small resentments, and you like watching Sandler and Stiller play off each other with restraint.

Skip it if you want plot momentum or a clear through-line; this is a loose, meandering film at just under two hours, and its rhythm of bickering scenes can feel repetitive if you are not in the mood for it.

What it asks of you: Patience with slow, circling conversations and a shifting sense of who the story belongs to. It is wry and melancholy more than laugh-out-loud, and it rewards attention to small looks and pauses.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Farewell2019

Like Meyerowitz, it finds comedy in the gap between what families say and what they mean, building genuine emotional weight through small, precise moments of misunderstanding and connection.

But Some find the tonal shifts between humour and sadness disorienting, and the pacing can feel deliberately slow if you want plot momentum.

Manchester by the Sea2016

Casey Affleck carries the same weight of unresolved grief and family fracture. Baumbach's sensibility—comedy in dysfunction, no easy catharsis—runs through this portrait of a man haunted by his own mistakes.

But It's genuinely bleak. The film refuses comfort or redemption, which some experience as punishing rather than honest.

Transparent2014

A family implodes when its patriarch comes out as trans. It has Meyerowitz's gift for showing how family members can love each other and cause each other real pain, often simultaneously.

But The first season is uneven, and the show gets darker and more difficult as it progresses. Some scenes are hard to sit with.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Tokyo Story1953

Both find their deepest emotion in the smallest moments—a conversation about rent, a glance across a room. Both understand that family is made of accumulated disappointments that somehow equal love.

Ozu's masterpiece about an elderly couple visiting their adult children in postwar Tokyo. Like Meyerowitz, it finds the tragedy and comedy in the gap between what parents want from their children and what those children can give.

But It's a 1953 Japanese film with a deliberately quiet style. If you need plot or emotional catharsis, it will feel deliberately withholding.

Krisha2016

Ari Aster's debut uses his own family members playing versions of themselves. It's uncomfortably intimate about addiction, shame, and the specific ways families fail those who need them most.

But The realism is punishing. If you want characters to learn and change, this film won't provide that satisfaction.

This Is Where I Leave You2014

Jason Bateman and a fine ensemble reunite for shiva, resulting in a comedy-drama about siblings who know each other too well and too little. It shares Meyerowitz's blend of humour and genuine hurt.

But It's broader and more conventionally structured than Meyerowitz, which some find more satisfying and others find less honest.

Togetherness2015

Mark Duplass and Melanie Lynskey navigate marriage, friendship, and mutual disappointment with excruciating specificity. It's about people who love each other while making each other miserable.

But The show was cancelled after two seasons, and it ends abruptly. Also it's relentlessly uncomfortable—there's no relief.

The Squid and the Whale2005

An earlier Baumbach film about a family fragmenting through divorce. If you connect with Meyerowitz's rhythms and refusal to sentimentalise family, this is essential—it's where he perfected the voice.

But It's even more claustrophobic and less resolved than Meyerowitz. Some find it actively unpleasant rather than moving.

Olive Kitteridge2014

Frances McDormand as a retired schoolteacher; each episode explores a different relationship in her life. It captures the small humiliations and accumulated disappointments of family as precisely as any drama ever has.

But It's HBO's slowest burn. If you need conventional narrative hooks, this episodic structure won't satisfy you.

Mistress America2015

A younger, lighter Baumbach, but still about the ways people we love can be selfish and funny at once. It's a palate cleanser that still understands family as something you navigate rather than escape.

But It's considerably slighter than Meyerowitz, and some will find it feels like a sketch rather than a fully formed work.

EastSiders2013

Like Meyerowitz, it's radically uninterested in plot machinery. It just watches people fail to communicate with those they love, and that's the whole story.

A web series (later expanded) about a gay couple's relationship fracturing in real time. Shot on a shoestring, it achieves startling intimacy about how people can love each other and break each other with specific, unmade words.

But It looks cheap and sometimes awkwardly acted. The early seasons are rough—the production values improve, but never become polished.

The Rider2018

Both are about fathers and sons struggling to express love through anything but disappointment. Both refuse the redemptive arc. Both know that showing up is sometimes all family members can do.

Chloé Zhao films a rodeo community with mostly non-actors playing themselves. A young man navigates his relationship with his father and their shared world after his horse-riding is stolen by injury. It's about masculinity and family obligation with genuine tenderness.

But The pacing is glacial and the narrative is minimal. If you're watching for plot momentum or conventional story beats, this will feel like nothing happens.