Greenberg (2010) User Reviews

Character study may not be for everyone, but there's much to see

[dfranzen70 · 6/10 · 19 April 2010]

Greenberg, about a discontented 40 year old who's not at all sure what he's doing with his life, is a provocative slice of life - but it's not for all tastes. It moves slowly and demands extra attention, but even if you're really into the story you might wonder where those 107 minutes went.

Ben Stiller, in a terrific performance, is the titular ne'er do well, an itinerant carpenter housesitting for his brother in Los Angeles for six weeks. During that time, be meets and falls in and out of like for his brother's executive assistant Florence (Greta Gerwig, who's also magnificent), who's just as awkward as Roger Greenberg.

The bulk of the film covers their relationship on one track and the events of Greenberg's past that have led to his existential where-am-I ponderances. Some 15 years earlier, Roger was in a band out of college with a few good friends. They were apparently quite good, but when a record company offered them a deal, Roger turned it down, afraid of the success it might bring. This led to a serious rift in the band, causing each member to go his separate way; none of the members has played much music in the intervening years.

Liking Roger isn't easy for anyone, not even the audience. He's sort of a jerk. (It's mentioned that he's just been released from a mental institution, although the cause for his hospitalization is not explained.) The film indicates that Roger has problems maintaining relationships, sometimes acting out - and lashing out - in order to keep himself safe and serene. His arrival in LA allows him to reconnect with several of his old friends, many of whom he hasn't seen in those 15 years.

It's these fractured relationships that hold the key to Greenberg's life. At times, he tries to patch things up and move on with his life, but he's just as likely to snap at the friend or lapse into the same behavioral issues that had plagued him as a young man.

Stiller is really, really good in this. He's surprisingly very good at showing myriad emotions convincingly. At once, you believe Greenberg is a polarizing, hurting, hurtful man on the cusp of the rest of his life. Stiller's brand of comedy can take time to grow on someone, but he really shows his range here. I certainly didn't know he could plumb the depths of a character like he did to Roger Greenberg.

Gerwig is his equal and is a real presence here. Florence is - like her namesake Nightingale - a huge help to Greenberg's brother as his assistant, and he's much more savvy about taking care of the house than Greenberg is about taking care of himself (in a funny early scene, she asks him to make a list of things for her to get at the store, and he writes "whiskey" and "sandwiches"). But as good as she is at her professional life, her personal life is an absolute mess. She goes on one-night stands because they feel good - okay, no problem there - but she has few true connections in life. She has one good friend, and you get the impression that her family isn't really close to her (she says her niece doesn't relate too well to her). Florence is physically and emotionally awkward, unsure of herself in all ways save for her job, in which she's commanding. This, of course, also makes her terribly vulnerable to the advances of the older Greenberg.

So the acting is really top notch, but the movie just isn't for everyone. Here's why. There's a lot of plot, a lot of things happening, but very little is resolved or accomplished; the film almost feels like a stream of consciousness to which we're privy. What WILL Greenberg do after the six weeks are up? Will he stay with Florence? Will he jilt her? In the end, does it really matter? Probably not; the ending is abrupt, although not out of place for the rest of the film. But one really needs to be atuned to Greenberg's plight in order to enjoy the film. If one isn't, the movie's mostly dull with bits of funny moments interspersed throughout. I didn't find it terribly heartwarming, just a character study of an unlikable character. Which is not a bad thing at all, but this one just didn't completely work for me.

Working hard at doing nothing

[ferguson-6 · 7/10 · 28 March 2010]

Greetings again from the darkness. Noah Baumbach wrote and directed the excellent "The Squid and the Whale", and it is with "Greenberg" that he really makes a statement as an independent filmmaker to anticipate. The second gem is always the most elusive. That said, I am not sure I can recommend this movie to very many people, despite all the good things I am about to write.

This is the first Ben Stiller role that actually seems to fit him. His typical role is as a punchline. Here, he plays a guy who recently suffered a nervous breakdown and is now house-sitting for his rich brother, whose family is vacationing in Vietnam. Throughout the movie, Greenberg states he is concentrating on doing "nothing" right now. Of course, that is his defense mechanism for being unable to connect or communicate with any real person. Yes, that sounds bleak ... and it is. Yet, it is also fascinating and thought-provoking.

Despite Stiller's strong turn, Greta Gerwig (as Florence) proves to be the heart of the story. She is the family assistant to Greenberg's brother and finds herself oddly attracted to Greenberg's vulnerable state. This is my first exposure to Ms. Gerwig and I find her fascinating as an actress. She has a natural openness on screen and is certainly no glamour-gal. Instead she comes across as a very real 25 year old trying to make sense of life - especially her own.

In addition to Ms. Gerwig, Rhys Ifans provides outstanding support work as Greenberg's long ago band mate. This is the polar opposite of Ifan's character in "The Boat that Rocked" as here is just a guy putting together a grown up life for himself. He struggles with the adjustment, but accurately depicts how choices can make or break us.

I am not sure whether to categorize this as a character study or just an exquisitely written series of scenes that hit the nail on the head. One of the best scenes of the film is when Stiller meets up with Jennifer Jason Leigh and she immediately rebuffs his reconciliation attempts. They had been a couple briefly 15 years ago and she has obviously moved on. Excellent film-making.

The best way I can describe Greenberg the character is that he is a compilation of the dark thought that we all experience from time to time ... a desire to do nothing, wanting to be blunt and direct, dreams of recapturing the magic of youth, and of course, writing complaint letters for everything wrong in the world. Obviously, most of us spend very little real time on these things, but that is the Greenberg character. Let's keep an eye on Mr. Baumbach - he may just be the real deal.

Ben Stiller too dark

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 16 January 2016]

Florence Marr (Greta Gerwig) is the Greenberg family nanny in L.A. The family goes on a trip while the brother Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller) drops by to housesit. She's young trying to find her way. He's a New Yorker misanthrope just out of an insane asylum. He doesn't drive and writes complaint letters. His friend Ivan Schrank (Rhys Ifans) pushes him to go to Eric Beller (Mark Duplass)'s barbecue where he runs into ex-girlfriend Beth (Jennifer Jason Leigh) with her kids. Roger, Eric and Ivan were once in a band but Roger refused to sign a recording deal. Florence and Roger have an on-and-off relationship.

Ben Stiller is going too dark. It's a matter of slight miscalibration. This could be a great indie rom-com but I can't find any likability to Roger. His dialog could have some sharp sarcastic jokes to take off the edge. I need to laugh with him but his dark depressed nature keeps getting into the way. Getting angry over his birthday is probably the only laughable moment although saying Florence's emotional story is pointless gets a small chuckle. His anger needs to have more comedy as an outlet and to balance his dark side. It has some good moments but it could have been better.

wildly uneven indie drama but with strong performances

[Buddy-51 · 20 July 2011]

Just as he's turning forty, Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller) finds himself with no real friends, no significant other, and no actual purpose in life. He's also just been released from a mental institution, so you can well imagine that his neuroses are going to be pretty much off the chart as well. A carpenter and former musician who regularly resides in New York City, Greenberg is currently house-sitting at the Hollywood Hills home of his wealthy and successful brother, Phillip (Chris Messina), while the latter is away on business in Vietnam with his family. While he's staying there, Greenberg meets Florence (Greta Gerwig), a sweet but rather unfocused woman almost half his age, who works as a personal assistant – i.e. dog walker, babysitter and all-around gopher - to Phillip and his family.

Greenberg's mental issues manifest themselves through various phobias and idiosyncrasies, all of which lead us to the conclusion that he is generally just afraid of life, of taking a risk when doing so could possibly lead to failure. To that end, he avoids large groups of people, writes endless letters of complaints to companies he feels have somehow screwed him over, overreacts to other people's words and actions, and makes a general antisocial and sociopathic pain-in-the-ass of himself. And to no one is he more psychologically abusive than to Florence, a girl with her own share of vulnerabilities, who in his own crazy way he is obviously trying to impress but who he just keeps pushing away with his eccentric behavior.

It's hard to really get much of a bead on either Greenberg or Florence, and that is both the greatest strength and the greatest weakness of the screenplay by Jennifer Jason Leigh and Noah Baumbach, who also directed the film. On the one hand, one appreciates the complexity of the characters, their refusal to allow themselves to be pigeon-holed into one neatly delineated box or other. On the other, the coolly objective stance the script takes creates a barrier between us and the characters, the result being that we find it hard to identify or empathize much with them, especially Greenberg, who finally becomes as off-putting to us as he is to those he comes in contact with throughout the course of the picture. In drama, there's a fine line between a character who is intriguingly different and one who is just annoyingly self-indulgent, and "Greenberg" crosses over that line with dismaying regularity.

Still, the performances are excellent – this is probably Stiller's best dramatic work to date – and the inconclusive ending is impressively brave enough to erase a multitude of earlier sins.

A love story of confusion.

[face-819-933726 · 7/10 · 13 February 2014]

Ben Stiller is always a safe bet, and this movie is no exception to that rule, it's just a bit dull, sad, and broken. Filled to the brim with great talent, and written very well, there is just no real moment of victory, just a lot of defeat. I re-watched it today in order to give a fresh review, but now I remember I was not able to finish it last time, it was just that drab, and uninspiring. Really if there is anything to take from this movie, as in life is that you always need a real skill to fall back on like Solomon's violin playing. The sad factor is the point of this movie, I get it, and Ironicly I was actually going through a similar experience when this movie first came out, it is just that Stiller plays it too well I think. Juno Temple as an Australian is kind of silly, but he needed that torture to set him on the right path. You can't say I didn't get the story, it just wasn't something that I Enjoyed watching. I can only recommend the acting, and writing of this film, of course it is filmed quite well, all of the angels are caught, I just can't recommend the actual story. unless you are looking to be brought down, then have at it.

A Nutshell Review: Greenberg

[DICK STEEL · 7/10 · 19 April 2010]

Based upon a story by actress Jennifer Jason Leigh who also had a bit part to lay here, and directed by Noah Baumbach who share screenplay credits, Greenberg is a tale that deals with the anxieties of the 40 year olds who are starting to wonder how half their lives had passed them by without anything to show for, and how much courage they have to try and reinvent themselves for the remaining half. Usually at a mid-life crisis, one would find a certain itch to want to break away from the norm and routine, but scratching that itch would depend on how severe it is, and how hungry one actually is in wanting to embark on change and do something different.

Despite its title being the last name of its male protagonist, Greenberg opens with a typical day in the life of Florence Marr (Greta Gerwig), the ever capable personal assistant to the Greenberg family headed by Phillip (Chris Messina), and because this part of the Greenberg family is heading to Vietnam for a vacation, Phillip's brother Roger (Ben Stiller) decides to move in temporarily from New York to Los Angeles for 6 weeks in order to do nothing, and in return for his brother's provision of a roof over his head, Roger's carpentry skill will be called upon to build a doghouse.

But this film is not about showing off his carpentry skills, but more of how he builds up new relationships with the household mutt, and Florence to whom he has taken a strange fixation and fancy to, while on the other hand still holding a candle for his ex-flame Beth (Jennifer Jason Leigh). And having just come out of a mental institution for a psychological issue didn't help either, as we see how temperamental and volatile Roger can get, where relationships he built with such difficulty, can be utterly destroyed at his uncontrollable blow ups.

In a way, this film is quite the depressing one, where folks like me and of course the older generation, may feel some pangs in wondering, like Roger, how we ended up the way we are, and the contemplating of the What Ifs and missed opportunities from relationships and family, to friendship and that of a professional life which could have possibly lifted Roger to fame and fortune, if not for his inexplicable rejection of that single chance that could have changed his life for the better. For the optimistic, this will be a strange film to sit through, as there's very little uplifting moments. Heck, even the door falls sick to some little known disease, and many faceless characters come and go without having any emotional resonance with Roger.

Which makes him yearn companionship in whatever means possible, even if it means sleeping with, or trying to, with his brother's assistant Florence, who somehow likes Roger for the very low key way of leading his life built on the basis of doing nothing, without the pressures of expectations, or imposing one's will on the other. Wait, scratch that last point, as Roger does make their friendship/relationship complex no thanks to not knowing what he wants, and not admitting things he desires. This forms the basic anchor for the film to develop upon, with commentary during a house party filled with youngsters about the impetuousness of youth, and the rather throwaway lives they lead with the drinking and drug abuse, and the lack of responsibility in clearing up the mess they leave behind.

It's a refreshing change to see Ben Stiller in a non comedic role, where he plays serious for once, and showcase some dramatic chops. Paired opposite him is Greta Gerwig who managed to hold her own as Florence, who's top notch at organizing other people's lives, but really zilch in looking after her own interests, succumbing to sex with strangers as a relief of sorts. Despite the nice casting in Greenberg, this indie film is not an easy one to sit through, not appealing to the depressive since its themes are quite the downer, and neither gaining fans from the optimistic since they'll likely be in deep thought once the show ends. But endure and stay for the top notch performances, with a proper, well deserved payout waiting for you right at the end of it.

AS UNLIKEABLE AS STILLER IS IN THIS IT IS WORTH SEEING

[tkdlifemagazine · 6/10 · 27 April 2023]

Ben Stiller actually does a great job in this one. Noah Baumbach has such an unusual way of making people's ordinary lives and dynamics interesting. This is no different. Stiller plays the quirky New York brother of an upper middle class LA man. Stiller, fresh from a mental hospital, housesits while his brother is in Vietnam on vacation. He becomes involved with Florence, played by Greta Gerwig, who is his brother's assistant. She is also unusual in her attraction to this odd, relatively unkind man, but she is really, really likable in this. It is, like all Baumbach's movies a look at relationships and people. Stiller is horrible and great in this all at the same time.

Good Performances, Boring Movie

[chicagopoetry · 4/10 · 9 July 2010]

Greenberg is one of those films where you have to say wow, the performance are Oscar worthy, but trying to get through it, you say, oh will it ever end, puleeeese. I wish I could end my review right there, because that says it all, but IMDb requires a certain amount of lines. This is Ben Stiller's chance at Punch Drunk Love but unfortunately it is just a jumbled mess. Oh, how many times while I watched this movie did I moan, oh, please, just be over already, this is so boring. The plot goes nowhere. This would be cool if it was actually a comedy as advertised but it is not a comedy at all, not a single laugh, not even an attempt at a laugh, it is a drama. A drama needs to go somewhere. The Graduate went somewhere. This movie is just almost two hours of two emotionally imbalanced people interacting to no end. Who cares??? Wasted performances. Wasted talent. Two hours of character study of unlikeable characters. Why???

Brilliant, Heartwarming Character Study That's Not For Everybody

[emvan · 10/10 · 1 April 2010]

... (which, if you've read the other reviews here, you know is a massive understatement).

Let's start with the two obvious stumbling blocks to loving this rather astonishingly good and (for some) altogether life-affirming and lovable movie.

-- The main character is pretty much a jerk.

-- There's no plot.

Now, realize: the main character is *supposed* to be unlikeable. And the movie does not try to have a plot. And you might wonder, how can a movie that starts with these two conditions possibly be any good, let alone some be some kind of masterpiece? So let me explain.

Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller in the performance of his life) is by no means completely unlikeable. He's quite funny, an adept verbal wit (there is no situational comedy in this movie at all; it's funny in places because Greenberg is often funny). He has very firm and uncompromising moral ideals. He cares deeply and responsibly for animals. What makes him unlikeable is that he sometimes, unexpectedly, treats people, especially people he cares for, like crap -- he uses that verbal wit like a blunt knife and goes on unwarranted tirades. And he has almost no insight into himself (occasionally the movie is very funny at his expense.) You know that guy in your family who is fundamentally, deep down, a very good person, but is all too often an incredible pain and aggravation to be with? That's Greenberg. He is, in short, the sort of person who is much easier to love than to like.

We are told from the outset that he has, in fact, just been released from a mental institution, and this is one of the least clichéd and most fully-rounded portraits of a seriously mentally ill person in recent cinema. We watch as he works really, really hard to sabotage any hope he has for a happy life.

He meets and is immediately smitten with a woman (played terrifically by Greta Gerwig; it's nearly as much her story as his) who has her own set of neuroses, but ones that are much more ordinary than his. We watch their relationship play out over a few months exactly as it might in real life, without any set of causally related events to provide an engine of plot.

So what narrative tension is there? Why keep watching? Very simply, if you like Roger Greenberg enough to have empathy and sympathy for his plight, if you can see past the sarcastic surface to the deep pain underneath, if you can recognize a little bit of yourself in him, then you are going to root for him to get his act together, to cut all that nonsense out, to start to understand himself --in short, to start to recover some sanity, to find the first cobblestones of the path to some kind of happiness.

Well, that's what happens, and it's wonderful to watch. (That it's possible to watch the movie and not notice it happening is obvious from some of the reviews here, including one that criticized the ending as incomplete; in fact, this may have the best and most perfect last line of any movie I can think of.)

If you didn't much like _Sideways_ or _Up in the Air_, I can guarantee that you will hate _Greenberg_ (I mean, imagine those movies, but with no plot, too!). If you loved those movies -- if you have no problem watching emotionally stunted people slowly grow up -- then you'll probably love this, too, and you may even love the way that the lack of conventional plot makes the movie completely realistic and hence especially powerful emotionally. When I first wrote this review, I ended by saying "I can't wait to see it again and I suspect I'll watch it many times." I've now seen it twice more and, indeed, it only gets better.

"Hurt people hurt people."

[drewnes · 7/10 · 30 May 2021]

There is something about this movie that irritates me, but at the same time I found myself wanting Ben Stiller to find peace. Also, more movies need Greta Gerwig.

I hope this movie isn't a reflextion on reality...

[kriskoppy1961 · 1/10 · 30 June 2010]

I just spent a couple hours struggling through this cinema of confusion. I kept waiting for the film to get better but alas.... it never did. Stiller plays a confused, disillusioned human being and that's exactly what overwhelms this film. It's depressing, distressing, and grievous to watch minute after minute of pointlessness. Do women actually give themselves up to complete strangers without protest? I certainly hope not... and I especially hope they don't give themselves up to the likes of Ben Stiller's character. Stiller's character continually abuses everything that walks on two legs... I can't imagine that anyone would maintain a friendship of any sorts with such a knob. Please... do yourself a favor and spend an evening donating blood or volunteering to be a human canon ball before you waste any time watching this garbage... terrible. Absolutely terrible...

The Ultimate Anti-Romantic Comedy

[jzappa · 9/10 · 22 August 2010]

You know those fleeting, inelegant moments and transitory, almost Seinfeldian scenarios in our lives that, unlike on Seinfeld, we never really talk about, because they betray how clueless and insecure we all are? You know how we'll go to parties basically to see one person and find we're inept at opening up and socializing with anyone else? You know those pointless, roundabout stories we'll tell about something that happened that we thought was interesting or funny but we don't realize how boring or monotonous they are till we're halfway through them? What about the receiving end of that situation? Why are we so worried about hurting these painful storytellers' feelings when they're making us so uncomfortable having to feign interest or amusement for indefinite durations? You know those sexual experiences we never talk about even to our best friends because they were so painfully awkward and nakedly ungraceful? You know how when we're on drugs we only indulge occasionally and we find ourselves wording things in creative ways, feeling overconfident and impulsive while everyone else is viewing us as rather reckless? Roger and Florence know, all too painfully, awkwardly, uncomfortably, recklessly well.

Some of us handle these situations much better than others. Some of us save face, some of us don't care that much, some of us read other people well enough to know it's all just part of life. Forty-year-old carpenter Roger Greenberg and his brother's college-age assistant Florence are stranded by an utter deficiency of any of these possible salvages. Inevitably finding themselves sharing these horrible moments whenever they're together, they are in turn repulsed by one another. They can't stop reeling over what happened last night, the other night, a week ago. And while Florence is too timidly self-effacing and in need of being with someone to bring herself to write off Roger, Roger's whole perspective on everything is disfigured by his narcissistic compulsion toward suffering, his hermit-like disdain for any and every inconvenience, and righteous indignation that he can't allow to exist alongside ever being at fault. It's Seinfeld in the bathroom with a razor blade in the tendon.

When you watch the trailer, you're watching a nervously smoking exec hoping to at least break even by streamlining all the overtly laugh-inducing moments. With the possible exception of less than a handful, they indeed are all in the preview. The dry carping lines by Stiller, the Starbucks letter, at the party telling off the Gen-Y stoners, hitting the SUV and bailing when it actually stops. Greenberg is a comedy, but in such an internal and carefully cringe-worthy way that most scenes are seemingly shapeless renderings of a combination of characters situated in a combination of day-to-day situations and the readily apparent punchline moments are indeed that few and that far between. But that is its intent, and it succeeds with witty effect: An impossible jerk and a bashful, marginally popular girl idiosyncratically push each other's most debilitatingly precarious buttons but aren't able to go their separate ways because they're too thin-skinned to be alone. It is the ultimate anti-romantic comedy. No Golden Globe moments here.

Ben Stiller gives the performance I believe all truly good comic actors capable of, one of fierce angst and biting personal honesty. We've seen Sandler unravel an entirely different dimension of himself in Punch Drunk Love and Reign Over Me, Robin Williams in World's Greatest Dad and Insomnia, Pryor in Blue Collar, and so on. Roger Greenberg is his tour de force as a well-rounded, perceptive and talented actor who's not afraid of his audience going as far as to dislike his character, which would be entirely understandable for many viewers to feel, because he deeply understands Greenberg and doesn't judge him. The gratifying discovery we make here is that of Greta Gerwig. Yes, she is very sexy, but exactly the way Greenberg describes, "She's, I don't know, bigger. I find it sexy." She's pure salt of the earth, a real person unfettered by make-up or fashion. I know many girls who talk, dress and act just like her Florence, who she makes come alive on just the right naturalistic levels.

Writer-director Noah Baumbach made two previous films very strongly akin to this. They were the concise and beautiful The Squid and the Whale and the soul-crushingly relatable and mercilessly matter-of-fact Margot at the Wedding. All three of these films have difficult and self-unaware individuals at their centers, they each share a bone-dry and woefully cynical sense of humor and they each reveal Baumbach's inimitable talent at showing us characters and situations so universal and everyday as to level-headedly gaze at the most abstract innards of acknowledgeable moments of personal and social frustration. His actors always feel extemporaneous, in the moment, unscripted. Their characters belong to an ever-pervading yet little-characterized contemporary facet of liberalized information-age American society. At arm's length he shares the quirky, idiosyncratic likes of Wes Anderson, except there is not one shred of hopeful sweetness or heart-warming serendipity. Those are things we love, and we embrace them whenever we experience them, but at the expense of never taking the time to face the realities of the banal, the bilious stuff of everyday life. That's where Baumbach comes in.

Enjoyable if familiar

[alastair-32 · 6/10 · 28 February 2010]

Enjoyable romp through planet Baumbach, although not quite as successful as The Squid and the Whale. If self-absorbed and angst-ridden wealthy liberals can be tapped for witty dialogue, Noah's your man, and this one is a slight departure in that it has a nice dog and (more importantly) a charming lead in the shape of Greta Gerwig - who offers a great foil to the unrelentingly narcissistic Greenberg. Rhys Ifans seems a bit lost, given that his character is not turned up to 11, and Jennifer Jason Leigh is only fleetingly present, so doesn't get much to do. LA makes a change from New York, though the sensibility is very much of the NYC (of Baumbach) transposed.

Surprise film at the Dublin Film Festival, and the best one I've seen for many's the year.

Dull overly long effort.

[ihrtfilms · 4/10 · 6 August 2010]

Noah Baumbach recent efforts Margot At The Wedding and the Squid And The Whale, were both fine films, so I was interested in seeing his latest Greenberg. Ben Stiller stars in this as a man struggling with his life, who meets a woman and begins a romance with her. Greenberg is a very unlikable person at times, although he often reminds one of some neurotic Woody Allen creation and has at times a certain charm. Stiller is very toned down in this and a such does a good job. Stealing his limelight is Greta Gerwig as Florence who gives a fine performance here. Florence is a little odd in her ways and so there is perhaps a connection between the two, but if this is meant to be a character study, it fails to be anything but a study in dullness. So very little happens, that it's difficult to maintain interest and with a unlikable main character, the film plods along, to the point where I longed for the credits to start.

It's a shame the film falls flat, especially when you consider previous efforts from Baumbach. Whilst there are some things going for it, mostly in performances, including a good supporting role from Rhys Ifans, there is very little going for it, especially when it runs at nearly 2hrs, it's a tough film experience.

More reviews at my site iheartfilms.weebly.com

Hitting 40 Plus and Asking 'What Happened'

[Chrysanthepop · 8 May 2011]

I was under the impression that this would be another wacky Ben Stiller comedy. When I started watching it and learned that Noah Baumbach (who had previously made the excellent 'Margot at the Wedding') was the director, I knew this was going to be a different kind of movie that would probably reveal a different side of Ben Stiller's acting. Many have described this to be for Stiller what 'Punch Drunk Love' was for Adam Sandler and 'Stranger Than Fiction' was for Will Ferrell.

Baumbach's 'Greenberg' is a character driven piece that centres on Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller), who recently left a mental asylum and is back in town to housesit for his brother who's away on holiday. He falls for his brother's assistant and tries to pick up the pieces of a life he had once left behind while going through a midlife crisis.

Like he did with 'Margot at the Wedding', Baumbach's execution is lowkey and his narration mostly relies on the interactions between the characters and the protagonist's quiet moments when he/she is alone. The art direction is suitably minimal and the camera-work is solid. The dry humour is very effective and consistent with the atmosphere Baumbach creates.

Ben Stiller does a remarkable job with an effortless performance. This is definitely a departure from what he's familiar with and he proves that he can deliver a restrained performance when required. Rhys Ifans is equally good. Jennifer Jason Leigh (who also co-wrote the screenplay) provides fine support on both counts. Greta Gerwig is competent.

Baumbach has done it again, successfully telling a complex story that appears to be much more than what shows on the surface.

A passive character study of Roger Greenberg.

[Eternality · 7/10 · 17 June 2011]

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.

GRADE: C+ (6.5/10 or 3 stars)

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Greenberg is a strange movie.

[bazookamouth-221-898097 · 7/10 · 26 August 2018]

I liked this movie. I like Ben Stiller protrayal of a 40 something with life issues and very self important opinion of himself who kicks off at the drop of a hat. Greta Gerwig he has nice chemistry with. He is not very nice to her in the movie but she has a lovely personality. All in all a very strange but watchable movie. I thought Rhys Ifans played a good part as his long suffering friend. He is not English by the way as Ben Stiller stated in the movie. He is Welsh. He retained his Welsh accent. Best scenes. Awkward intimacy meets with Stiller/Gerwig. The party at the end was quite amusing where he interacts with a bunch of teens. I think he must have some kind of Autism, maybe Ashbergers? Would explain some of his treatment of others. All in all very watchable. Watch out for a young Brie Larson, shes not in it long, toward the end at the party.

Good movies are wasted on most viewers

[dierregi · 7/10 · 12 June 2010]

The plot of this movie revolves around a rather unsympathetic character named Roger Greenberg, babysitting for six weeks his brother's house and dog in LA. Roger grew up in California but moved to NY, presumably some 15 years earlier, after splitting with his rock band.

His life does not seem a success, but neither seems the lives of his friends who stayed behind in LA. In fact, pretty much everybody in this movie seems a bit dissatisfied and going through some sort of crisis. Maybe because "life is wasted on people"? as Greenberg says referring to the famous quote "youth is wasted on the young".

Greenberg maybe a looser, but his middle-aged friends, with their broken relationships, their rehab problems and their bothersome children, hardly seem winners. Neither the young are spared. His brother's assistant, a 20-something young woman, looks completely clueless and totally unassertive, as far as her own life is concerned. She may be kind and loving towards children and dogs, but she acts as a doormat when it comes to relationships. Maybe because she just wants to be loved, even if only by somebody as unappealing as Greenberg.

The other youngsters featured in the film look like a bunch of spoiled, selfish brats, too ignorant and stupid to understand or care about anything except themselves. This is a rather realistic take on youth, and so are the sex scenes, filmed with almost painful realism, with strangers hardly knowing each other sharing awkward moments of intimacy. In short, nothing glamorous or fake in this movie.

Ben Stiller is great playing Greenberg. He may seem uncaring and indifferent, even cruel towards his friends, but at times it is difficult at not to identify with with him. Who was not bullied and mistreat by faceless government and corporations? He is angry because the world we live in does not make much sense, because the way we lead our lives is increasingly neurotic, because there seem to be less and less hope in the future.

Finally, this is not the typical Hollywood story about beautiful people living in LA, getting rich and famous without selling their souls. It is a movie about what the "real" LA might be. I am sure a largest part of the public will not "get" this movie, because there is not much action, violence, or witty conversation – too bad for them. "Good movies are wasted on most viewers"….. give them "Pretty woman" any time, and they will cheer at the cheesiness of dull fairy tales.

Gangrene

[kieronboote-134-969472 · 1/10 · 20 July 2013]

This was Baumbach's first poem to his new muse, Greta Gerwig, but it amounts to little more than a predictable romcom plot featuring the sort of tiresome, self-absorbed characters who only actually exist in the world of the tiresome, self-absorbed people who made the film! Noah Baumbach started his directing career promisingly with "The Squid and the Whale" but clearly the elements of humanity/reality that emerge in that film owe more to the semi-autobiographical nature of the film and the selfless, wonderful performances of Jeff Daniels and Laura Linney than they do to Mr Baumbach's incipient talent. Subsequently his films, the charming "Life Aquatic" aside which he co-wrote with Wes Anderson, have become ever more deeply entrenched in the tiresome neurotic middle class world of people that you wouldn't want to spend any time with. Baumbach himself has said that "I always viewed life as material for a movie". That would be fine Noah if you and your life weren't so smug and removed from anything that might be of interest to anyone but you and your circle of friends. Baumbach's new belle, Greta Gerwig, has to date been a fairly anonymous screen persona in big budget movies and a somewhat mannered presence, with her slightly off the beat, faltering way of delivering her dialogue, in the mumblecore movies in which she has built up her reputation. She is apparently unaffected and charming when being interviewed by critics but the "next big thing"? I'm afraid I don't get it! Baumbach's new film "Francis Ha" continues the great romance between Noah and Greta and all that I will say about that much vaunted film is Jean Luc Godard and Anna Karina they are not! I wonder how Jennifer Jason Leigh, Baumbach's previous muse/star/love, and a much more interesting, talented and edgy actress than Gerwig, is finding all of this? So back to "Greenberg". The "hero" of the movie is ex-asylum inmate Roger, played by Ben Stiller. The unpleasant, neurotic gradually falls in love with the sweet, patient, mumbling family P.A. ( yeh we've all got a P.A. haven't we? ). But wouldn't you know it, Roger has a self destructive streak and a horrible personality and yet we know deep down he must be a sensitive soul because hey, he's a carpenter. As this is allegedly a comedy drama various, what I assume are supposed to be amusing, vignettes ensue - I bet Baumbach thought the scenes with the family dog were hilarious! - and the relationship between Florence and Roger evolves. But the structure of the film amounts to little more than a dressed up version of the stereotypical roller coaster romcom narrative until the predictable conclusion arrives. Throughout I couldn't find any redeeming features. The script is awkward, the cinematography flat and lifeless and the score amounts to little more than the standard indie assemblage of sensitive songs. We are first introduced to "Roger" as he looks out of a window and we see the back of head and then suddenly he turns and we have a "wow it's Ben Stiller" moment. I'm not sure what sort of ego you have to have to be introduced into a movie in this way? All that I can say to Mr Stiller is whilst that sort of set up might work in "Once Upon a Time in the West" for an icon like Henry Fonda you Mr Stiller are just that guy who played second fiddle to museum exhibits. What we have here is the equivalent of a home movie about dull, hermetically sealed lives – Baumbach came from the Brooklyn home of a film critic, Stiller's parents are comedy stars – and so what would they know about real life? ( Walt Stillman by the way is even worse!). What Roger needs isn't the love of a good woman it's a good slap! He's not a sad, lost psychologically damaged product of an alienating world he's a product of over indulgence. I don't pity him I pity myself for having to spend time with these people and their tedious "please understand how sensitive I am and just look how difficult it is for me to be me" whining. I'm convinced that the liberal world view of the twerps behind this movie would be that if you are an unpleasant, loud mouthed blue collar guy you are classed as a sociopath but if you are self-hating, human horror like Roger but from the right background then you are essentially a misunderstood, sensitive soul and you need to be loved and sympathised with. I can only assume that these people have inflicted this film upon us because they think there is something of interest or merit in the project, perhaps something about the need for us ordinary little folk to have empathy with all overindulged, damaged upper middle class people, but I can assure them that the film is about as insightful into the human condition as a Micheal Bay film. In the real world people with real lives and real issues haven't got time to collect neuroses, haven't got the ability to live out their latest affairs on screen in multi million dollar projects, and haven't got the arrogance to assume that anyone would be in the slightest bit interested in their tedious lives. Someone should make these people sit down and watch "Cache" by Michael Haneke and then spend a further 6 months studying the various layers of the film, the personal and universal themes, the politics, the history, the humanity contained in that film and then they would realise that compared with someone like Mr Haneke they are not very clever at all. Then who knows, with a bit of humility, a proper education in European cinema (not just bumbling through a viewing of "A Bout de soufflé" and "Bande a part" ) and an enlarged world view they just might gain some understanding into why I dislike this useless film?

Some people don't "get" this film...

[DarthPaul85 · 8/10 · 30 March 2010]

This film was slightly misadvertised. It is not a "funny movie," it is a pseudo-slice of life movie with an eccentric but believable character. It is a comedy in the sense that it is not a tragedy.

I enjoyed this film immensely. I found it very cathartic and realistic. It is "funny" in the sense that Ben Stiller is socially inappropriate at times, but honestly, it's not a "funny" film, and sometimes the film tries to be funny and definitely falls flat. The story is also a little slow to start. That said, it's still a good film.

Some people clearly don't "get" this film...Anyone who says "it wasn't funny!!" or "nothing happened!" is missing the point. This is one of those rare movies based entirely on character, with a very realistic plot progression. It's not the best movie of the year or anything, but it's a really good example of a character-driven story. If you don't care about or "get" Greenberg, there is nothing for you here.

I must protest the people who say the film is unbelievable. It *is* very believable, but not necessarily relatable. It portrays a man bordering on mental instability *very* well.

Ultimately, this movie is similar to Woody Allen pics in affect, although much less "funny." But it still has that "world through the eyes of a neurotic" gimmick, as well as the laissez-faire plot progression.

Ben Stiller also deserves praise for a great, "real" performance as Greenberg, and he is supported by a mixed cast (some great, some poor).

I recommend this film to anyone familiar with OCD, anxiety, or anyone over 40 who asks "what happened?"

Oddly compelling saga of an unlikable neurotic

[J_Trex · 7/10 · 15 April 2010]

The trailer for the film made it seem as though it was a comedy but it wasn't. It was more a poignant drama on dysfunctional relationships and how people deal with them. The laughs were few and mostly unintentional.

The main character is 40 year old failure Roger Greenberg (played by Ben Stiller) who is staying at his wealthy brother's house in Los Angeles while the brother and his family are off on vacation in Vietnam. Roger is recovering from a "nervous breakdown" while living in NYC and is convalescing in LA. While there, he is introduced to Florence, his brother's Nanny, a pretty and sexually accommodating 26 year old. They have a quick sexual encounter at Florence's apartment and Roger promptly departs, ashamed of taking advantage of his brother's employee.

This is pretty much how the movie evolves. Roger gets together with old friends, gets into petty arguments over the silliest things, storms off in a huff, and than patches things over with lame and utterly self absorbed apologies.

Roger gets into repeated arguments with Florence, with his friend Ivan, and others in the movie, to the point where one has to wonder why anyone would be friends with this guy. Roger is irredeemably unpleasant, self absorbed, irrational, and not someone anyone in their right mind would want to be around.

If you can get past Roger's noxious personality, the movie is pretty good. I liked Greta Gerwig as Florence. She was the real star of the movie.

A wasted 107 minutes of my life!

[robertsanda · 1/10 · 5 February 2011]

Like they say, you can spot a cockerel from the moment it is hatched, you can actually tell a great movie in the first ten minutes most of the time. Occasionally a movie comes along that builds slowly to a great climax at the very end. That is the hope that kept me through this excruciatingly boring attempt at film-making. I mean, who can tell me the point of this movie? Not once in the entire movie did anything so much as evoked a smile on my face yet they billed it as a comedy.

The title character is supposed to be suffering from obsessive-compulsive personality disorder but apparently no one taught the actor what a patient with OCD should look like. Hasn't the actor watched the title character in The Aviator? There is a flicker of ramance in the movie but in the end you wonder if Roger loves Florence or he is just feeling sorry for her. The part of the movie that featured an unplanned pregnancy and an abortion is so emotionally dry you could swear some other couple are involved not them. We are not even told who is the father of the baby but we can infer that it is Roger because Florence denied sleeping with the other guy. In spite of this, you do not see any emotions displayed by Roger or Florence before or after the abortion - this is so unreal for those who have actually been through this experience in real life.

Another totally incongruous piece in this movie is the caligraphy hanging on the wall of the home Roger was staying in. We are made to believe that this is a Jewish home yet the caligraphy is the Arabic script that translates to "In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful and the Most Beneficient". Well, if this was meant to be a subliminal message that is supposed to show that Jews and Arabs have a common ground, no mention of Islam or the presentation of an Arab character featured in this totally pointless movie.

In the end, the climax that I anticipated to give this movie a reason for being never materialized. I was left wondering what was it all about. This is clearly the kind of movie you should be watching in a blizzard when you are sure there are no taxis available and your home is far away.

Noah Baumbach and a (serious) Ben Stiller combine forces on this character piece.

[lewiskendell · 8/10 · 10 August 2010]

"A shrink said to me once that I have trouble living in the present, so I linger on the past because I felt like I never really lived it in the first place, you know?"

Greenberg is a drama about...Greenberg. Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller), to be specific. A 40 year-old New Yorker who returns to Los Angeles to stay at his successful brother's home while he and his family are away on a trip. He's not dealing with his life not going the way he planned as well as most of the other people he knows, and he's perpetually stuck in the past. The music he listens to is old, he talks to people about events that happened 15 years ago that they don't even remember, and he's just generally an unhappy guy. His main activity is writing letters of complaint to various companies.  

To say that Roger is flawed is an understatement. He just got out of a mental hospital recently, he's self-centered, and he tends to freak out about insignificant things as a way to protect himself from people and the world. Yet, I still liked him. As does Florence, (Greta Getwig) his brother's personal assistant who isn't exactly a model of happiness and mental health, herself, and Ivan (Rhys Ifans), Roger's long-suffering old friend and band mate, who is having family troubles of his own. 

If I had to compare this to another movie, it would be Rachel Getting Married. Not because of any plot similarities, but because of a similar tone and some shared themes. Specifically, being adrift in adult life and how issues and regretted decisions from youth can linger and fester. Also similar to Rachel Getting Married, there's never a breakthrough moment where the flawed characters are suddenly okay, and all the problems disappear.  If you expect grand resolutions from your movies, please avoid Greenberg. All we get is a sliver of light at the end that makes us think that something positive may be happening in some of these characters' lives. We're left to imagine and hope that Roger, Florence, and Ivan are on the road to getting (or finding out) what they need from life.  

So yeah, I liked it. It's a good "indie" drama, and quite different from Stiller's usual thing. Stiller and Gerwig were both great, the characters were well-written, and I've always been interested in these kinds of stories about adults flailing away blindly in this tricky thing we call life. If you're a fan of movies like Margot at the Wedding, The Squid and the Whale (both movies share Greenberg's director), and Rachel Getting Married, I'd suggest that you give this a try.

Rich characters, but Stiller holds it back

[radioheadrcm · 7/10 · 2 July 2010]

Greenberg is a character study of a man without much use to society, himself, or anyone around him. He's full of interesting things to say, but can never relax enough to channel his thoughts. He's determined to do nothing with his life (at least for a while, he says). His daily struggles (and I mean struggles) include swimming across a pool and trying to hold a basic conversation without freaking people out. In other words, Roger Greenberg was conceived as a rich, deeply troubled and tragic man, but unfortunately, the potential depth and complexity of his character are never fully realized in the film.

Although the casting of Ben Stiller in the role of Greenberg was certainly intriguing, I believe his interpretation of the character lies at the heart of the problem. Going into the film, I knew I wasn't going to get a performance on the level of Carrey in Eternal Sunshine or Sandler in Punch Drunk Love, but I still felt sure that Stiller would make the film work. It's not that Stiller's performance was flat... it wasn't. He nailed the abrasive and socially frustrated side of Greenberg perfectly. But when it came to delving into the meat of his character, he seemed to come up short, and with the exception of a few overtly dramatic scenes, we never get the sense that Stiller truly grasps the tragedy of his character.

Unfortunately, the slow, minimalist structure of the film relies on a knock-out performance by Stiller. For the first hour of the film, Baumbach had this to say: "This is Greenberg. He has problems with people." It wasn't until the last half hour that Baumbach began to explore the possibilities of the character, and this is when the film becomes truly interesting.

If this were coming from an average writer/director, Greenberg would be hailed as a reasonable achievement, but coming from Baumbach, I came out of it feeling like he could have done better. Greenberg isn't a failure as a whole. If you go into the film searching for brilliance, you'll find it. Just don't bother bringing a handkerchief with you, as you may have needed one for his past works.

Falls Flat, Unfunny

[bob-rutzel-1 · 2/10 · 30 July 2010]

There is a man, Roger Greenberg (Stiller), around 40, who is house-sitting for his brother who took his family on a vacation. We have heard Roger was in a mental hospital and now seemingly okay, goes about his business being demanding, uncaring, selfish, mostly oblivious to other peoples' needs/feelings but also in a funny way, trying to reestablish himself. But, he is no hurry to do that. Told you it was in a funny way.

Remember the Seinfeld TV show where it was practically about nothing, yet you laughed your head off? This movie, too, is about nothing yet we are kept waiting for 90-minutes for it to start. There is basically no story. This is a slice of life that goes nowhere. And, there is more tension in here than in some murder mystery/thriller because we have no idea what Greenberg will do or say next.

For the most part he does nothing, which really doesn't add up as someone trying to reestablish himself toward any goal, job or future. So the way I see it, this falls flat. Not even any good lines to come away with. None funny anyway except for the Stiller in-crowd. Greenberg is just self centered and that is that.

Wait. There was one good line in here: hurt people hurt people. That sums up Greenberg and this movie. Greenberg realized he did hurt people, but saying that and doing something about it are two different things. Some may argue he started to do something at the end of the movie. Are we so sure of that?

We are not sure why his friends are still his friends as Greenberg in his younger days put the Kabosh on a record deal that would have made his musical group rich and famous, but they broke up and went their separate ways.

I thought that the letter writing campaign to companies that displeased him because of poor service (in his mind) would be the comic relief in here. Didn't happen. Ben should talk to his father Jerry about comedy. Look, if you are not going to do comedy, then confrontations are needed and the only one was with Ivan near the end of the movie. Not enough.

I did come away with something though. Rhys Ifans who played Greenberg's best friend Ivan has a lot of Peter O'Toole in him. I wouldn't say as animated as O'Toole in his later years but there's something there. I suppose we will know more when Ivans stars in a remake of Lawrence of Arabia.

Violence: No. Sex: Yes, twice Nudity: Yes, once Language: Yes, some in the beginning.