The Meyerowitz Family Trailer Is As Jewish As The Name Implies

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By Steven Davidson September 20, 2017

The trailer for what shapes up to be one of Netflix’s most Jewish original productions just dropped. A family-oriented dramedy, Noah Baumbach’s “The Meyerowitz Stories” chronicles the struggles of Harold Meyerowitz seeking to reconnect with his family. The film stars Dustin Hoffman as the Meyerowitz patriarch, Ben Stiller as his well-to-do son, Adam Sandler as his less successful son (art clearly imitating real life here), Emma Thompson as Hoffman’s wife, and Elizabeth Marvel and Grace Van Patten as the two daughters. That one sentence contains six (!) consecutive Jewish names and even a double Jewish suffix for good measure.

Though a common premise, the glittering cast promises to make a story about a dysfunctional family as entertaining and argumentative as your Rosh Hashanah dinner surely will be. Within the two and half minute trailer, Dustin Hoffman wonders whether a $35 salmon at a restaurant comes with fellatio, Emma Thompson drunkenly laments the Italian practice of deep-frying birds (???), and Ben Stiller and Adam Sandler get in a fight, presumably to settle the debate over who was the ’90s greatest young Jewish comedian (which never really was a debate).

“The Meyerowitz Stories” will be released on Netflix and in select theaters October 13. Check out the trailer below.

Steven Davidson is an editorial fellow at the Forward.

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