'The Meyerowitz Stories':Why Dustin Hoffman is a national treasure

I have never been a member of the cult of Noam Baumbach. I have enjoyed some of his movies, while some have felt wildly overrated to me by critics who saw themselves in the material but perhaps failed to see that they are almost always so steeped in white people problems that they could stand as a testament to why people of color feel so frustrated when attempts to portray the banalities of their life experience are deemed risky. In the all-star Meyerowitz Stories, which is currently streaming on Netflix, Baumbach does aim for more universal truths, although his story of a egotistical, formidable patriarch and his eccentric offspring is a familiar trope in Baumbach's solo work and his collaborations with Wes Anderson.

What elevates this project, and makes it special, is the presence of the brilliant Dustin Hoffman. Now 80 years old, but still unconventionally handsome, quick-witted and charming, it's a delight to see this newly hirsute iconic actor working at the top of his game as a sculptor who has always over-estimated his own impact on the art world and his has blithely failed as a nurturing father.

It's mind-blowing to think about the fact that it was 50 years ago that Hoffman first became a movie star with his performance in the classic dramedy The Graduate. Then already 30, but channeling much younger, Hoffman blew up old fashioned ideas about what made a leading man and in the decades that followed he was a chameleon, remaking himself in movies as diverse as Midnight Cowboy, Lenny, Marathon Man, All the President's Men, Kramer vs. Kramer. Tootsie, Rain Man, Hook and many more.

He has not been as omnipresent in recent years as some of his peers (like DeNiro and Pacino), and with the exception of the Meet the Fockers films, he hasn't really sold out his brand as a consummate professional, but perhaps because he doesn't have one signature role -- his persona could arguably be defined by his versatility -- his legacy may harder to pin down by modern audiences.

In The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), he is hilariously funny, but also very believable as a certain kind of father we've either all had or certainly witnessed. Unfortunately, for reasons I won't spoil, his character takes a back seat to his grown sons (played by Ben Stiller and Adam Sandler) and the film becomes considerably less fun because of it.

Stiller and especially Sandler are in fine form here, as half-siblings who are still confronting unresolved slights from their childhood and through crisis are forced to navigate the awkwardness. Sandler gives easily his best performance since Punch-Drunk Love (you could almost call his an extension of his suppressed rage/wounded soul work in that movie). But the narrative stakes feel relatively small.

This is a film with a lot of histrionics, loud bickering, literal fighting and in an amusing, but broad running gag -- copious nudity -- it does, also, feel deeply personal.

For me, despite the references to my alma mater Bard College, there wasn't a terrible amount that I could relate to, so my biggest takeaway from viewing it was my affection for Hoffman, who is one of our greatest actors, someone who exudes restless energy and vivacious spirit, and should be on the big screen a lot more often.