Greenberg (2010)

2.5

COMEDY/DRAMA
U.S. Release Date: 03/26/10
Running Length: 107 Minutes
MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Strong Sexuality, Drug Use, Language)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Cast: Ben Stiller, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans
Director: Noah Baumbach
Screenplay: Noah Baumbach, Jennifer Jason Leigh (story)
Cinematography: Harris Savides
U.S. Distributor: Focus Features

Review by: Carter Moulton

03/31/10

There is a scene in Greenberg that single-handedly rescues it from the clutches of mediocrity. It’s when Roger Greenberg, a mentally unstable middle-aged man, is in the car with his niece and her friend. He’s about to travel to Australia with them. He’s running away from his life—a life of self-destruction and stubbornness. The car halts at a stoplight. Greenberg glances out of the backseat window and sees a giant inflatable tube man, moving amidst an oceanic sky. He realizes that his life has been flowing in cycles, filling up and starting over. He jumps out of the car and into a new life—or so we are led to believe.

Greenberg, the man not the movie (look for italics), housesits for his wealthy brother in Los Angeles. With nothing to do for six weeks—save building a doghouse for the family dog—he reunites, and more or less annoys, old friends (Rhys Ifans) and lovers (Jennifer Jason Leigh). The scenes between Greenberg and the members of his past life are meant to flesh out a social threading, but they end up being uninteresting and lengthy.  The only humor in them comes from Stiller ripping on people as he sees fit. The main relationship in the film is an awkwardly blooming romance between Roger and Florence (Greta Gerwig in a raw performance), the vacationing family’s personal assistant.

Photo © Focus Features

Stiler does his part. This isn’t Tropic Thunder or Zoolander; it’s a complete performance from an actor whose dramatic boundaries are nonexistent. Stiller, in fact, is the highlight of the picture, with his macaroni hair and thinned physique completing his transformation into a disgruntled carpenter. Baumbach pulls a Paul Thomas Anderson, albeit to a less successful extent, and channels his talent’s signature characteristics. In Anderson’s Punch Drunk Love, it was Adam Sandler’s childlike behavior and rage; in Greenberg, it’s Stiller’s arrogance and frustration.

This is probably the longest 107-minute movie you’ll ever see, but it’s a runtime that encapsulates Greenburg’s life. It’s slow, quiet, and at times dull. There are half dozen wonderful scenes in the film—Greenberg swimming in the pool, Greenberg at a restaurant, Greenberg at a party—and these images are the ones most likely to stick in your head. You’ll probably look back on the film thinking you enjoyed it more than you actually did.

Baumbach's Greenberg fits snuggly on a shelf in-between his first, The Squid and the Whale, and the debacle that followed, Margot at the Wedding. All three are films about unlikable people, but only Squid delves deep enough to make a lasting impact. Greenberg is comparable to spotting a five-dollar bill in an unflushed toilet: is it worth it?