Ted, the hero of 1979's "Kramer vs. Kramer," played by Dustin Hoffman, ought to grab a couple of beers with Charlie, the hero of Noah Baumbach's new "Marriage Story," played by Adam Driver. Though their respective movies are separated by almost exactly 40 years, these two divorced dads would have a lot to talk about.
In his day, Hoffman's Ted marked a new kind of male, one willing to fight his wife (Meryl Streep) for custody of their son and sacrifice professional ambition to become what we now call an involved father. For Charlie, a New York theater director separating from his actress-wife, Nicole (Scarlett Johansson), there's nothing groundbreaking in wanting custody of their grade-schooler, Henry (Azhy Robertson). Being a dedicated dad is just a given.
To call "Marriage Story" a bittersweet and beautifully written film with stunning, near-perfect performances from its two stars seems almost beside the point. Like all of Baumbach's films, it draws partly from the writer-director's real life (he and the actress Jennifer Jason Leigh, who have a son, divorced in 2013) and alternates scenes of wrenching drama with moments of absurdist humor. More than anything, though, "Marriage Story" provides a case study in what has and hasn't changed when it comes to the complications of marriage, separation and parenthood.
