Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost (2025)

Ben Stiller directs this film as a touching tribute to his showbiz parents who performed together as a double act for decades. While going through their personal belongings in preparation of selling their home, it becomes about Ben and his sister's story as much as it is about their parents, told through home movies, audio recordings and letters left behind. It's a deeply affecting and often uncomfortable look at growing up amidst fame and professional embitterments, told through the uniquely skewed perspective of being an actor. It's very much a family affair that soon becomes a healing project and a way of connecting with his own kids, who grew up with similar experiences.

3 contained emotions out of 5

The Heartbreak Kid (2007)

A remake of the 1972 film about a shallow man who quickly courts and marries a beautiful woman, then realizes they have nothing in common and falls for another woman on their honeymoon. As always, Ben Stiller excels at playing the hapless sap, but this one has more of a mean streak than other romantic comedies. It's raunchy and offensive, which gets bonus points in my book, but this is not one of the Farrelly brothers' best. The original holds up much better.

2 cures for a jellyfish sting out of 5