Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
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.