Review: The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017)

* * *
Director: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, Dustin Hoffman

The last week and a half has been a pretty horrifying one in terms of the barrage of sexual harassment (and assault and rape) stories that have come out of Hollywood. It's been so depressing that on Friday I was very much looking forward to watching Noah Baumbach's new comedy, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), just for a bit of escapism and to have a few good laughs. I did, in fact, have several good laughs while watching it, but then mid-way through the movie one of the female characters tells a story about how when she was a teenager she went swimming and then afterwards was rinsing herself off in an outdoor shower only to turn around and discover one of her father's friends watching her while masturbating and it was like, "Is there no escape from these stories?" This isn't in any way to suggest that we shouldn't be paying attention to these stories and demanding better behavior from those who are privileged to wield power; it's just that it would have been nice to experience 2 solid hours without being confronted with a story about a dude luxuriating in garbage behavior towards a woman just because he feels that his penis entitles him to it. The Meyerwotiz Stories is a good movie, by the way, but God.

Review: Mistress America (2015)

* * * 1/2
Director: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Greta Gerwig, Lola Kirke

For a filmmaker who built a name for himself through razor sharp dissections of the anxieties, pretensions, and preoccupations of his own generation, Noah Baumbach has proved in his last couple of films that he has a keen eye for the next one, too. In fairness, in the case of Frances Ha and his latest, Mistress America, some of the credit for that must go to star Greta Gerwig, who also serves as co-writer of both, and whose presence on screen helps to soften some of Baumbach's naturally barbed edges so that the films seem more like rueful observations rather than the cinematic equivalent of an annoyed man muttering about the kids on his lawn. Mistress America isn't quite on the same level as Frances Ha, but it's a really good, really funny film with two fantastic performances at its center.

Review: While We're Young (2015)

* * *
Director: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts, Adam Driver, Amanda Seyfried

Youth is wasted on the young, but in the case of Noah Baumbach's While We're Young, it is also wasted on the middle-aged. Though it's being marketed as a somewhat raucous generational comedy, as if it's a gentler and less raunchy version of Neighbors, no one should go into While We're Young expecting a laugh-a-minute movie. It has some lines and moments that are very trailer friendly and it is a funny movie, but it's funny in that sharp, find the humor in tragedy and the tragedy in humor sort of way that is typical of Baumbach's work - this may be more conventional and broadly appealing than the filmmaker's previous films, but it's still Baumbach. Featuring a couple of great performances at its core, While We're Young is a strong effort, even if it deflates a bit in its final act.

Review: Greenberg (2010)

* * *
Director: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig

Some matches are made in heaven, others are made... much closer to earth, less a result of cosmic alignment than deciding that it's time to settle, if only temporarily. Although writer/director Noah Baumbach would probably describe it differently, I would summarize Greenberg thusly: a mentally fragile narcissist spends an hour and a half screwing with the head of a somewhat spacey but perfectly nice young woman until both are just so exhausted that they decide that the other will do, at least for now. This isn't a love story - it's too messy, too cringe-inducingly human. Baumbach excels in cinema of the uncomfortable, in characters who behave so badly that you want to look away, but so believably that you feel compelled to keep watching. Greenberg isn't great Baumbach, but it's definitely good Baumbach.

Review: Frances Ha (2013)

* * * *
Director: Noah Baumbach
Starring: Greta Gerwig

I don't know yet if Frances Ha is the best movie of the year, but I know that no other movie released so far this year has made me smile more. Less acidic than director Noah Baumbach's other recent works, but containing his typically fine attention to character detail, the film is light without being flimsy, picaresque without being scattered, and reminiscent of Woody Allen at his peak. Frances Ha is an utterly delightful movie from beginning to end, one which I can't wait to go back and watch again.