This is not a joke, it is not April Fools, just take a look at your calendar to see that it is the end of May. The annual Cannes Film Festival has been underway, with previews of new films and documentaries from around the world being shown at the invitation-only event. One of these movies is "The Meyerowitz Stories."'. It stars Adam Sandler, who is getting Oscar buzz for his role in the movie. This is a surprise as Sandler has recently been known for his run of exclusive Netflix movies and a string of movies that have mostly been ridiculed for being terrible by critics and audiences.
What is the 'Meyerowitz Stories'?
'The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected)' is a tender family comedy directed by Noah Baumbach. The film centers around Harold Meyerowitz, who is played by Oscar winner Dustin Hoffman. Harold is the artistically talented patriarch of the family who ends up in the hospital with an injury and falls into a coma. This event causes his estranged children Danny (Adam Sandler), Matthew (Ben Stiller) and Jean (Elizabeth Marvel) to get back together and be forced to reconnect with one another.
Sandler's character Danny is a half-brother to Matthew, who both always sought their father's approval but ended up feeling inadequate. His character is also a divorced stay-at-home father whose daughter, played by Grace Van Pattern, has just gone away to college.
Sandler's Oscar buzz
Upon 'The Meyerowitz Stories' premiering at the Cannes Film Festival last Sunday (May 21), it was met with ecstatic reviews and the audience gave it a four-minute standing ovation. The movie is also getting good reviews with an 87% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a 7.8 on IMDB and a 77 critic score on Metacritic.
The movie was also picked to compete in the main competition section for the Palme d'Or, the highest prize awarded at Cannes.
There has been gushing praise amid all of these positive reviews for Adam Sandler's performance in the film, which has led to early talk of Oscar buzz. His performance has been called "A standout among standouts" by Deadline's Pete Hammond.
Variety's Peter Debruge said, "Sandler is forced to act, and it's a glorious thing to watch." Stephanie Zacharek of Time said that "Sandler is terrific." As for taking on more serious acting roles, Sandler says that he does not want to dive headfirst into them, despite all the support and positive reviews he has got. He says that he loves to make the movies that he gets to make.