Greenberg

Since The Squid and the Whale I always been an admirator of  Baumbach's offbeat comedies. The story of his film of 2005 was so close  to what my family was living that I immediately put it in my all-time  bests.

Greenberg is an unpretentious little breezy film about a man  trying to get out of his depressive antisocial patterns. Once again, a  character I easily can get associated with. Sadly, I'm a little  antisocial and I have a facility to fell into a depressive state... But  in the case of Greenberg, the "propos" doesn't get annoying at all.

The rythm of the story is right and it never gets over dramatic. The  plot and the chjaracters evolves in a good way and little redemption is  at the end. Meanwhile, it doesn't get over cheezy or too melodramatic.

Ben Stiller as Greenberg gives a fine performance and he lets his  character get all the subtilities it needs. The other actors that  populate the film are very good in this well constructed play.

Baumbach's film isn't as flamboyant or exhilarating as the next indie  comedy but it brings something new to a subject that has recently  populated many films.

If you've watched the trailer for Greenberg, you'd be forgiven for thinking that it could have been subtitled The 40-Year-Old Virgin 2. Replace Steve Carell with Ben Stiller, and you'd have two remarkably similar movies.

Except, of course, we all know that trailers can lie.

Greenberg is actually a dark comedy-drama, and while there are a  few laughs, they're generally uncomfortable in nature, and preceded by  long moments of awkward silence. While The 40-Year-Old Virgin was played for easy laughs and moments of slapstick tomfoolery, Greenberg is a rather twisted glimpse inside the damaged psyche of one of life's true outsiders.

With Ben Stiller playing the lead the laughs were never destined to be  entirely absent, but you might have to search for them. Stiller plays  Roger Greenberg, a 40-year-old who has suffered a mental breakdown and  is roped in to caretaker his brother's house while he's away on  vacation.

Roger hits on his brother's assistant Florence (Greta Gerwig), spectacularly fails to reignite romance with an old flame (Jennifer Jason Leigh), generally hassles his long-suffering friend Ivan (Rhys Ifans),  and almost kills the family dog. When his niece comes home early and  throws a party, Roger can't help lapsing into drug use and adolescent  dreams of escape.

The fact that director Noah Baumbach manages to craft a vaguely positive ending from the sorry mess of  Roger's life is a testament to his underlying optimism, and despite  Roger's numerous flaws you can't help rooting for him. It probably helps  that he's played by Ben Stiller, too.

Like much of Baumbach's work, Greenberg is an exploration of  life's many casualties, the dysfunctional, damaged people who struggle  to make it to the end of every day - in other words, almost everyone.  Roger Greenberg is a screwup of epic proportions, and yet in his basic  desires to be safe, respected and loved, he mirrors every one of us.

Greenberg isn't always an easy film to watch, especially since  Roger makes it his mission to 'do nothing' for most of its duration, but  amidst the aimlessness and insecurities there's a surprisingly touching  story about finding one's place in the world, and the responsibilities  that turn us from children into adults.

Of course, the real world is never quite that simple, and neither is  Baumbach's film - but there's an unexpected warmth and humanity in the  ending that turns its rather depressing subject matter into something  heartwarming and uplifting. Just don't expect the laughs to flow easily.

4/5

THE SCOOP
Director: Noah Baumbach
Plot: A New Yorker moves to Los Angeles in order to figure out his life while he housesits for his brother, and he soon sparks with his brother's assistant.

Genre: Drama/Comedy
Awards: Nom. for Golden Bear (Berlin).
Runtime: 107min
Rating: R21 for some strong sexuality, drug use, and language.

IN RETROSPECT
Greenberg is not a film for everyone. Especially if you are a Ben Stiller fan. Nominated for the Golden Bear (Berlin), Greenberg stars Stiller in his most and probably only serious role to date. Apparently, there is a likelihood that uninformed fans of the popular Hollywood comedian would jump into a theater screening Greenberg and find themselves utterly disappointed that the film is not quite funny, and if it is, it is funny in a serious kind of way. A note of interest, this could be the only time when a Stiller film does not command a full attendance at a local screen near you.

Stiller is Roger Greenberg, a man in his late thirties with lots of time at his disposal and no obligations to work commitments whatsoever. His brother is on a holiday with his own family at Vietnam and requires him to take care of his house for a couple of weeks. It is known that Roger has some mental problems but they are not serious enough to be a liability. The other lead character is Florence Marr (Greta Gerwig). She is Roger’s brother’s assistant who is tasked to “help out with the chores and grocery shopping”. In an idealistic scenario, they meet and fall in love with each other and presumably live happily ever after.
But Noah Baumbach (the Oscar-nominated writer-director of The Squid and the Whale (2005)) takes a longer route to build up that ideal.

Greenberg is a quiet film about an introverted man with psychological insecurities trying to lead a life of worth after setbacks in the past caused him to lose track of his life and perhaps even his identity. Both lead characters like each other, and in a moment of spontaneous sexual urge, Roger performs cunnilingus on Florence but stops short of intercourse.

Even then, there is a sense of awkwardness in their unusual relationship because Roger is unable to express love towards Florence. As a result, Florence takes it as face value that he just needs a temporary companion and does not see a long-term future for both of them. Stiller’s performance is decent, but it is Gerwig’s that is far more praiseworthy. She is a new talent to take note. It is to their (and Baumbach’s) credit that the “romantic tension” between the leads is excellently sustained throughout, right up to the last scene.

The problem with Greenberg is that it feels too laidback, and may I say, even lethargic to a certain extent. There are moments when the film occasionally straddles over the line of boredom. Despite the good performances, the leads are quite difficult to identify with. Hence, we are unable to share a common bond with them. They might be fulfilled emotionally at the end, but we are not. And even if we are, is there any significance? Greenberg sets itself as a passive character study of Roger Greenberg. It’s worth taking a look, but only if nothing else interests you at that very moment.

SCORE: 6.5/10
[www.filmnomenon.blogspot.com]
All rights reserved!

Singapore's Most Prolific Film Blogger @ www.filmnomenon.blogspot.com

Last updated: 2010-05-02 07:34:28 by eternality_tan

Noah Baumbach is good at what he does, putting flawed characters in the  spot light, as seen in The Squid & THe Whale and Margot At The  Wedding. Greenberg, may be his best, from a story by himself and  Margot's Jennifer Jason Leigh(who looks just as good now w days btw).

The  story revolves around Roger Greenberg(Ben Stiller) & Florence(House  of the Devil's Gretna Gerwig). Florence works for Roger's brother who  is on vacation with his family, so Roger lives at the house while  they're away & builds a dog house for them. Roger is a carpenter but  really wants to do nothing, he also was recently released from a  hospital from a nervous breakdown. He attempts to rekindle is old  relation with Beth(Jennifer Jason Leigh) and hang out with his best  friend/ex band mate Ivan(Rhys Ifans). After meeting Florence, he decides  to ask her out, the two quickly begin to make out and Roger performs  the best thing on earth, to Florence. She doesn't wanna go to fast since  she recently got out of a relationship, and doesn't want Roger to be a  quick fuck like a dude she met at an art gallery. Roger seems to be  bipolar as one moment will be very nice, and then next will lash out  over the slightest gesture he doesn't like, while Florence seems to  drink & fuck away her time(nothing wrong with that btw).

Roger  tries to keep things smooth with Florence, get's shot down by Beth  & has a strong bond with Ivan, even though the two argue you can  tell they care for each other. Roger & Florence both try to keep the  family dog's health in check as he's been sick.

After a party  with his sister in law's sister, Roger has to decide whether to go to  Australia with her or stay in L.A. with Florence, ultimately he stays  & Florence listens to a  voice mail he left, we are left to decide  what happens after.

Great film Noah's best film wise & his  best written, alot of people are saying how hateable  Roger is, but i  liked him sure he may be odd(so am i) and sure he may have mood swings  but deep down he's a good guy. Speaking of Roger, Ben Stiller is damn  good in the film, it's a classic Ben Stiller role, one we seem to see  him play alot, uptight, germophobic, ect, ect...but while watching it,  you forget it's Ben Stiller. Rest of the cast is solid & features  some good music.

If you are in the mood for pretentious, laborious clap trap, then Greenberg  will speak to you. Written and directed by Noah Baumbach (Margot at the Wedding, The Squid and the Whale), with story by Jennifer Jason Leigh, Greenberg stars Ben Stiller, Rhys Ifans, Greta Gerwig and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Greenberg is Roger Greenberg’s (Ben Stiller) story. Freshly released from a New York mental institute after suffering a nervous breakdown and back in LA following a 15-year absence, Roger is in an angry, fragile state of mind. While house and dog-sitting for his successful brother, Greenberg tries to reconnect with old friends as well as make new ones. He strikes up a shaky romance with his brother’s much younger personal assistant, Florence (Greta Gerwig) who’s got problems of her own and tries desperately to re-establish his friendship with long-ago roommate, Ivan (Rhys Ifans). The movie follows the ups and downs of these relationships.

This review may actually make the movie sound more interesting than it is. While the acting is ok—Stiller is always entertaining, Ifans successfully demonstrates that he can really act and Gerwig shows much promise--the story is very, very boring. Sorry, Jennifer Jason Leigh. You are a fabulous actress and very good in Greenberg, but as a story-teller…quite frankly, you stink.

Baumbach doesn’t write mainstream movies, but until Greenberg his movies were quirkily interesting. Greenberg is just plain dull.

Last updated: 2010-04-01 14:58:17 by jfuchsman

Plot:  Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller) house sits his brother’s place while he and his family are on vacation.  He’s just returned from a mental hospital after a nervous breakdown.  He has no idea what he wants to do with this life and claims he’s happy just doing “Nothing.”  He tries to reconnect with old friends while also getting romantically involved with his brother’s personal assistant, a young woman named Florence Marr (Greta Gerwig).

The first half of Greenberg is like watching paint dry.  The second half is…passable.  I was really excited for this movie when I saw the trailer, but my hopes were unrealized.  The main problem is that it just meanders along.  I have no idea what this character (Greenberg) wants.  And yea, I get the fact that’s the point but I really hate when movies do this.  It’s lazy.  Fine, this guy doesn’t really know what he’s doing in life right now, but come on, give the audience a hint of something he’s striving for, even if the character doesn’t know it.  You can’t just have your protagonist meander along and then suddenly wrap everything up in a neat little bow at the end.  Well that’s what Greenberg does.  It’s a frustrating film.  Now there are movies that meander along like the Big Lebowski, but there’s a huge difference; the Big Lebowski is hysterical.  This is not.

I think the director (Noah Baumbach) thought he could get away with putting Ben Stiller in a movie where he doesn’t quite act like Ben Stiller.  “Oh, this will be funny; How about Stiller plays this really reserved guy.  That is so different from his other roles.  This movie writes itself!”  No, it doesn’t Noah.  You still need a script.  Now the one bright spot is that Stiller is really good in the movie.  If he wasn’t in it, the film would be horrific.  But the problem is he’s like an ace pitcher on the Washington Nationals.  He’s great, but will he really take them anywhere?  I really also hate the inconsistency of his character.  For example, the first third of the movie he’s this pathetic loser of a guy, but seems nice and funny enough.  Then of all a sudden later on he turns into a complete dick.  Now this would be fine, but they try and express to the audience that he was always a complete dick.  I never saw him that way; I don’t buy any of this.  And they do all this cliché crap.  “Hey, this guy is really odd and he’s writing angry letters to companies like American Airlines and Starbucks.  Isn’t this hysterical?”  No, not really.  We’ve seen it before.

A big problem in Greenberg is the characters.  Greenberg is interesting enough, but everyone else is completely ignorable.  I really hate the leading lady in this movie.  Florence Marr (Greta Gerwig) is her name, and she’s the personal assistant to the Greenberg family.  And I’m sorry, but the film just goes out of its way to make her quirky.  I mean it’s shoved down your throat.  Come on.  It’s just every little thing she does.  The way she talks, reacts, walks, just every little movement crams the quirkiness in your face.  It’s so infuriating.  Yea, I get it!  She’s not like everybody else.  Leave me alone!  And the romantic element between the two just doesn’t work.  The way it begins is just too random.  Yea, I understand that her character just does random things and acts impulsively, but their first romantic spark just happens out of nothing - Once again, lazy writing.

There are scenes I liked though.  Like I said, Ben Stiller does shine in this.  There is one scene especially where he’s at a party with some college kids and he has some real solid comedic moments that are followed by a pretty intense exchange with one of his old friends.  Stiller at least gets a chance to show his acting chops in this, because he does have them as he’s shown in movies like the Royal Tenenbaums.  And even though it’s frustrating that this movie has no direction or purpose it seems like, I was curious to see what was going to happen to this guy.  But that’s all because of the actor, and not the director or script.

Also, the editing was terrible.  There are so many of those “acting weird for the sake of acting weird” moments that I loathe so much.  For example, the very beginning - Florence is driving her car and the camera just stays on a close up of her face for way to long.  It’s just there.  It was really awkward…I mean, go to another shot please.  Also, there are these dumb moments where music is being played and they do this stupid thing where someone shuts a car door and the music automatically stops.  Or the scene is at a party and then it quickly transitions to a quiet scene with Greenberg alone, and the music stops right on cue.  These are cheap little tricks to look slick and clever.  It was really distracting.  Also, the audience I saw this movie with sucked.  They giggled at things like Ben Stiller turning on an I-Pod.  The guy is turning on an I-Pod!  What is so funny!  Alright, I guess that’s not the movie’s fault.

So that’s Greenberg.  A few highlights and chuckles here and there, but ultimately a forgettable film.  It’s just too quirky and directionless.  I did like Stiller though, and I hope he gets a really good script to work with where he can stretch his wings, but it certainly isn’t this.

Rating: 5.5 out of 10 (Passable Entertainment)

Self-involved people have usually been portrayed in Hollywood as humorous because of their inability to perceive other people’s problems, perspectives, and are completely engaged as to how their world is supposed to work. Examples can usually be seen in Woody Allen films, such as Manhattan or Annie Hall, or modern examples are explored greatly in the HBO comedy show “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” where Larry David expects people to act in accordance to his world view with hilarious results. However, Noah Baumbach now takes a more realistic if not tragic look at how self-involvement can hurt other people in his new film Greenberg. Baumbach is an interesting film auteur with such films as The Squid and the Whale, Margot at the Wedding, and Kicking and Screaming. Known more for his ability to present moody cinema in a pleasantly simple technical style, Noah Baumbach isn’t what you would call an accessible filmmaker and Greenberg, starring Ben Stiller in a dramatic role, isn’t an accessible film. But the film is far from being a poor one, in fact, its Baumbach’s strongest work in years balancing an unlikely protagonist with a well developed story about opening your eyes to the world around you and taking responsibility for your life and actions. While the marketing campaign for this film was quite off, probably because everyone felt uneasy marketing a drama with Ben Stiller, it provides a good film experience with an important and relevant message in a time lacking personal development and accepting responsibility for your life when it seems to be slipping away.
            Simple yet guided can describe all of Baumbach’s films and Greenberg doesn’t stray away from the auteur’s style. It tells the story of two people, the first being a hapless mental case named Roger Greenberg who plans to do nothing in his life now after being released from a mental hospital exuding the attitude and lifestyle of a man who is completely denying any sort of ambition. The other main character is a young woman named Florence who is trying to find herself after college and sleeps around but does so mostly out of boredom. Florence and Roger end up meeting in both of their life crises when Roger moves into his brother’s house to babysit it while he is gone on vacation and Florence is the Greenberg’s house assistant. Beginning a relationship on an extremely awkward foot, Roger seems unable to really connect with anyone because he is focused on the past, while Florence is too preoccupied with the leisure and pleasantry Roger has to offer to see that he is too self-involved to really dedicate himself to anyone. Roger hasn’t changed in all of his years and still acts as though he is a child, defending his decision that ruined his best friend’s career as a musician while also trying to get back with his ex-girlfriend, who he cheated on, during her divorce. It’s difficult to watch this incredibly unlikeable and destructive protagonist but his eventual character arc has a strong statement and a modern relevance to a society that sometimes encourages poor behavior and irresponsible actions.
            If there is any hesitation as to seeing this movie because of the particular actors in it, including Ben Stiller and relatively unknown Greta Gerwig, please don’t let that influence you. Ben Stiller, known for his over produced hit or miss comedic material, delivers a convincing if not soul searching performance of a man who just simply doesn’t get the fact the he is too focused on himself. It’s a dry performance but the dialogue and delivery are convincing allowing them to accentuate the film’s desired tone and direction. Greta Gerwig, who plays the vulnerable Florence, is quite good and can be expected to obtain more roles after this deep and moving performance. The rest of the cast is filled with appropriately unknown actors but the two recognizable faces, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Rhys Ifans, both give great performances that showcase the well developed characters in Noah Baumbach’s script. This subtle and simplistic film would not work well if the performances weren’t spot on, but luckily they are and the film works in its entirety despite its lengthy run time.
            Baumbach succeeds in delivering a film atmosphere of Los Angeles that resembles that of Woody Allen’s New   York. The city works as a backdrop as well as a pawn in the relationship that is developing on the screen, for example, LA is a city where a car is needed yet Roger doesn’t drive forcing the sometimes reluctant Florence to pick him up and drive him places. It’s the best kind of romance film because it doesn’t exaggerate situations but plays around with simplicity and character flaws, which are the main ingredients to why relationships may or may not work out. Florence and Roger’s relationship isn’t the only important one here, because Roger’s best friend Ivan also reluctantly stays around his destructive personality until an awakening to a possibility of a better future shows him that Roger isn’t a good friend. Once everyone becomes disenchanted with Roger he is forced to make that transition from being a child to being an adult, taking responsibility for his decisions. Greenberg is the closest thing to a Woody Allen film that we’ve had in decades yet has that dry and simplistic touch that Baumbach himself is known for, which makes for a unique and interesting dramatic cinema experience.
            Speaking as someone who hasn’t truly cared for much of Baumbach’s work but has respected the autuer’s attempts at being a unique filmmaker, Greenberg is probably his best work since his debut film Kicking and Screaming. It’s successfully dry and pleasantly written while borrowing a stylistic touch here and there from renowned director Woody Allen, never in imitation but always in guided referencing. While poor marketing might cause people to believe this is a comedy when it is in fact a tightly written drama with good and great performances, this will probably just be a pleasant surprise rather than a disappointment. This could be Stiller’s Truman Show or Punch Drunk Love, considering he carries himself well in this dramatic role that combines the atmosphere and location use of Woody Allen’s Manhattan with the unpleasant protagonist from Martin Ritt’s Hud. Greenberg isn’t an excellent film but it has plenty of strengths that will remind us that Noah Baumbach is a truly inventive storyteller, both in mood and character.