Greenberg

Director: Noah Baumbach
Cast: Ben Stiller, Greta Grewig, Rhys Ifans and Jennifer Jason Leigh
Releasing in cinemas: 22 July 2010
Rated: MA 15+

Greenberg is a dialogue-driven art house comedy made difficult by the unattractiveness of the central character, played by the usually amiable Ben Stiller. With a basic theme of thwarted relationships, the film is peppered with such bitter lines as “Life is wasted on people”.

Noah Baumbach, writer/director of The Squid and the Whale, again dishes up psychologically disturbed folks, lost in rudeness and self-adulation. While some are applauding this latest essay, I struggled to find many laughs. Co-writer Jennifer Jason Leigh appears in the story, and also starred in Baumbach’s Margot at the Wedding.

When Phillip Greenberg (Chris Messina) takes his family to Vietnam on an extended business trip he asks his brother Roger (Ben Stiller) to babysit their house in Hollywood Hills and dog Mahler. Roger, a reclusive unhappy soul, comes directly from living in New York. He’s a carpenter who had an failed career in a rock band earlier in life. Roger’s recently been in a NY psychiatric hospital recovering from some form of breakdown.

Even now Roger appears pretty fractured, busy doing nothing except spending his days writing complaining letters and building a dog kennel. Florence Marr (Greta Gerwig), an attractive aspiring singer and also personal assistant to the Greenberg family, calls in occasionally to check everything’s alright with Roger and the house.

Roger tries to reconnect with old flame Beth (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and former band member Ivan (Rhys Ifans), but they’ve found new interests in life and Roger seems stuck in the past. While Florence starts visiting the gloomy Roger out of respect for her employer, she becomes increasingly involved with this difficult loner. Having her own share of life’s disappointments, Florence sums the situation up: “Hurt people hurt people”. Despite the odds, they start a slow dance towards a possible relationship.

The main problem with Greenberg is why the appealing Florence would bother with such an unpleasant whack job as Roger. Screen comedian Ben Stiller (Night at the Museum) takes a risk in playing right out of character in this. As a whining, arrogant, angst-ridden loser aimlessly filling in his days in his successful brother’s palatial home, he’s hardly the catch of the year for the younger Florence - even though they are both ‘lost souls’. Stiller even looks a lost soul in the film, wearing a pair of reject Bermuda shorts, army boots and a tool belt.

Roger appears determined to stay single and miserable as if he can’t see any joy in a relationship, even while he and Florence totter about trying to hook up. This leads to a couple of mildly steamy sex scenes, but those apart there’s little engagement between he and Florence. Both Rhys Ifans (The Boat that Rocked) and Jennifer Jason Leigh manage to instill some life into their characters, but it’s Greta Gerwig (Hannah Takes the Stairs) who radiates a warmth and sensuality which has a star quality. For myself, she alone made the film worth watching. On the technical side of things the film is up to usual Hollywood standards.

Greenberg is one for dyed-in-the-wool fans of Noah Baumbach. If you enjoyed Margot at the Wedding, you’re probably a starter.

John Bale