Review: Greenberg

Greenberg

OPENING: 03/26/2010

STUDIO: Focus Features

RUN TIME: 107 min

ACCOMPLICES:
Trailer, Official Site

The Charge
He’s got a lot on his mind.

Opening Statement
Greenberg is a film that can go either way with a person; either you’re going to wind up enjoying this movie, or you’re going to be bored to tears. The film combines the elements of comedy and sadness fairly well, meaning there’s something for everyone. The lead character is a rather deplorable man indeed, but Ben Stiller plays him great, and when all is said and done, if you’re like me, you’ll probably leave the theatre and reflect upon the moving pictures rather than forgetting them quickly.

Facts of the Case
Meet Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller, Night At The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian). Best way to describe him? He’s just not put together all that well. He’s a New Yorker who’s out of work, unlucky with the ladies, and has a small history of mental and psychiatric issues. To top it all off, he’s a lazy and unmotivated individual, who is perfectly content with the fact that he’s unemployed. However, when asked by his brother Philip (Chris Messina, Julie and Julia) to house-sit his family’s Los Angeles home while they travel on a cross-country vacation, he does accept the offer. Amongst Roger’s numerous experiences while dwelling in LA include meeting his brother’s dependable, loyal assistant Florence (Greta Gerwig, The House of the Devil). Florence may be a hardworking, dedicated employee, but she has a list of quirks and strange traits of her own which occasionally hinder her relationships with other people. The more time Roger and Florence spend with one another, the more often sparks fly, and they both try to form a relationship and coexist while overcoming one another’s oddities and peculiarities

The Evidence

First and foremost, I’ve just got to say that writing this script could not have been an easy-to-undergo task. The story doesn’t feature a whole ton of depth, it is most of the time Florence and Roger trying to synchronize and find a reason to be with one another, without ripping the other one’s head the hell off. There are minor subplots showered throughout the movie, such as Roger dealing with Philip’s sick dog, and reconnecting with his childhood friend from his early days in LA, but the majority of the film surrounds the budding relationship between Florence and Roger. Some may view this as dull, but I believe director/writer Noah Baumbach made the film interesting and intriguing enough to hold your attention for the film’s duration, including a steady diet of dark humor and drama.

Acting-wise, Ben Stiller enters into a role like we’ve never seen before. We’re all used to seeing Stiller in laughable comedic roles like the characters he portrayed in Tropic Thunder, Night at the Museum, Zoolander, and Meet The Parents. Well, while the movie does make you laugh here and there, Stiller makes it happen through the use of dramatic outbursts and cursing up a storm, rather than through his comedian gifts. And as for the character he plays, Roger Greenberg is about as hatable a guy as you’ll ever want to encounter. He’s egotistical, he’s obnoxious, he’s self-righteous, and a guy no one in their right frame of mind would want to be around. I just can’t buy into Florence’s character ever falling for a guy like this.

Greta Gerwig makes her mainstream debut in Greenberg, taking a break from the mumblecore genre of movies. Overall, she was average. Nothing terribly special, which brings me back to the hard to believe script. I can’t decide whether it was her guppy of a character or Gerwig’s actual acting that made me dislike her in this movie. But whatever the case, she was just run of the mill, and certainly not one of the big draws of the movie.

The ending is left unclear in a lot of areas, and that I think more than anything is what’s going to turn people off from Greenberg. This movie isn’t horrible, but it’s not good enough to leave so many storylines open, no matter how minor they are. This is a movie that required closure due to its occasionally slow playout, and Baumbach failed big time to deliver in this department. Bottom line is this: Greenberg has enough likeable elements to not render it terrible, but at the same is flawed, annoying, and unrealistic. It’s a movie I enjoyed, but certainly don’t need to waste time watching a second time.

Closing Statement
Greenberg the movie isn’t as loathsome as Greenberg the character, that’s for certain. It kind of seems all over the place with weak storylines, unnecessary ambiguity with a severe lacking of closure, and a female lead character that simply didn’t do it for me. Nevertheless, it was interesting to see how the story panned out, and Ben Stiller was very good. See it eventually, but certainly don’t rush to spend your green on the aggravating Roger Greenberg.

The Verdict
6/10

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