Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
On Quartile, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) scores 7/10 across five categories — strongest on Plot (Above Average), weakest on Cinematography (Below Average).
An estranged family gathers together in New York for an event celebrating the artistic work of their father.
Noah Baumbach's sharp family comedy-drama earns its keep almost entirely through its exceptional ensemble — Sandler, Stiller, and Hoffman deliver career-caliber performances full of wounded precision. The plot is deliberately episodic and slight, functioning more as a character study than a narrative engine, which works thematically but limits dramatic momentum. Cinematography is functional and handheld-intimate but unremarkable, typical of Baumbach's unshowy visual style. Novelty sits in the middle — it's distinctly Baumbachian in its dissection of East Coast intellectual dysfunction and paternal narcissism, but treads well-worn territory for the director specifically and the dysfunctional-family genre broadly. The ending resolves with quiet, earned ambivalence rather than catharsis, which feels honest if not fully satisfying.