Noah Baumbach Teams With Ben Stiller to Make a Fine Small Film
If you sometimes like to read literary fiction, you'll probably want to see Greenberg (2010), an indie comedy-drama co-written and directed by Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale, Margot at the Wedding). The title character and not-particularly-likable protagonist of Greenberg is played by Ben Stiller in an outstanding performance, although fans of this actor who think of him in terms of mainstream movies like Meet the Fockers may be a little caught-off-guard. The female lead in Greenberg is played winningly by Greta Gerwig, who has been associated with little-seen mumblecore films like Hannah Takes the Stairs. Yet another unexpected dimension to Greenberg is that in it Baumbach — previously known as a New York filmmaker — manages to capture the flavor of life in Los Angeles so well here that he has made a quintessential LA film.
Fortyish Roger Greenberg (Stiller), once a musician, now a carpenter, house-sits in LA, where he gets into a halting romance with Florence (Gerwig), his brother's personal assistant. Greenberg also renews his friendship with a former bandmate (Rhys Ifans), and he tries to reconnect with an old girlfriend (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Roger apparently recently had something like a nervous breakdown, and he has a lot of trouble dealing with other people.
There's not much of a plot in Greenberg, but it's a superb character study with quite a bit of wry humor. One of the movie's strengths is in closely observing unglamorous, everyday life in LA, and there's evocative music by James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem.
Bonus Materials
The Greenberg DVD contains three short featurettes with a total runtime of about seven minutes. In "Noah Baumbach Takes a Novel Approach," the filmmaker explains that here he tried to create a movie character in much the same way that a novelist like Philip Roth or Saul Bellow would. "Greenberg Loves Los Angeles" has Baumbach expressing his affection for the city, and we hear from the location manager, the set decorator and the costume designer. "A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Greenberg" has clips from the film with annoying voice-over promo talk by an announcer man.
DVD Release Date: July 13, 2010
Feature Film Runtime: 1 hour 48 minutes
MPAA Rating: R for Some Strong Sexuality, Drug Use and Language