DVD Review: Greenberg

Greenberg – An Alliance Films Release

http://www.filminfocus.com/focusfeatures/film/greenberg/

DVD Release Date: July 6th, 2010

Rated 14A for sexual content, coarse language, and substance abuse

Running time: 107 minutes

Noah Baumbach (dir.)

Noah Baumbach (screenplay)

Jennifer Jason Leigh (story)

Noah Baumbach (story)

James Murphy (music)

Ben Stiller as Roger Greenberg

Greta Gerwig as Florence Marr

Rhys Ifans as Ivan Schrank

Jennifer Jason Leigh as Beth

Chris Messina as Phillp Greenberg

Bonus Features Include:

• A Behind-the-Scenes Look at Greenberg

• Greenberg Loves Los Angeles

• Noah Baumbach Takess a Novel Approach

Our reviews below:

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Greenberg DVD Review By John C.

***1/2 (out of 4)

We’ve all, I’m sure, had days like Roger Greenberg. Completely overwhelmed by decisions we’ve made, we just try to do nothing. And everywhere we go, usually inadvertently, we end up making other people feel bad along the way. This is Roger Greenberg. Depressed, but mainly overwhelmed. Ben Stiller plays him perfectly, embodying a dramatic character just as well as he as ever been in a comedy.

At 40, still holding onto regrets from his past, Roger Greenberg is just trying to do nothing for a while. When asked to house-sit for his brother’s family, he spends a week in L.A. building them a dog house. He develops mutual feelings for his brother’s personal assistant, Florence (Greta Gerwig), and tries to rekindle friendships with his old friends. But what he realizes is, he’s still stuck in the past, and in order to move forward, he has to create new relationships and set down new ties.

When Florence makes a harsh decision to try to right a wrong, we can’t help but wonder if she is just heading down the same long road of regret that Greenberg was on so many years earlier. It’s about the so many people who are afraid to let go and move on, and because of it are still living in a past that they never really fit into. Greenberg is stuck between past and future, still trying to put down roots in the present.

In one of my favourite sequences, Greenberg attends a party populated by adults and children. What’s brilliant about this scene is the feeling Baumbach has captured. The feeling that you don’t know where to stand, what to say, no matter what you do, everybody just seems like they’d rather be talking to someone else. It’s the feeling that you’re out of place no matter what. In these situations, it’s kind of hard not to judge everyone else, when you know they’re all judging you. Greenberg is filled with many of these awkward moments, and we get the sense that Greenberg is starting to realize that he no longer fits in.

The movie is almost life affirming, well at the same time continuously asking why bother? Baumbach has created a work of pathos that doesn’t make it easy to like the characters, but certainly makes it hard not to care. It’s not a happy movie, which means that it won’t be for everybody. But for me, it’s a perfectly realized, utterly fascinating character and social study, right through to the pitch-perfect final scene.

The DVD includes several featurettes on different aspects of making the film.

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Greenberg DVD Review By Erin V.

**3/4 (out of 4)

Ben Stiller plays Roger Greenberg, the title character here. It is a very different performance for Stiller, not comedic like his usual roles – although one that he plays very well.

Greenberg is about a man who wants to try just doing nothing for a while. He is having a mid-life crisis of sorts. Knew where he had wanted his life to go, but as he gets older he doesn’t know how to adjust to what he should, or wants to, do now. He is asked to house-sit for his brother’s family while they go on vacation for 6 weeks, and this is how he meets his brother’s personal assistant, Florence (Greta Gerwig). They end up with some sort of a sad relationship, with both of them grasping at straws and unable to figure out where to go… They’ll have to figure out who they are themselves, before they can figure out who they can be together.

I think I honestly wanted to like this film more than I actually ended up liking it. I found it to be kind of drawn out, and the characters not all that appealing to watch. It is very different even from what I expected from the trailers, and different again from Noah Baumbach’s The Squid and the Whale. I also find the colour palette of the DVD packaging slightly misleading to the tone. Still it’s not a bad film per se – I certainly don’t mind some films of this tone – and I’d say it is worth a rental.

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Greenberg DVD Review By Nicole

*** (out of 4)

The Squid and the Whale was an interesting drama about a dysfunctional family. Directed by Noah Baumbach, The Squid and the Whale told the family’s story without going into melodrama.

Now, Noah Baumbach has done the same thing with Greenberg. The title character, Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller), is a chronically depressed, middle aged bachelor, who regrets something from his distant past. To try to make things better, Roger decides to take care of his brother’s house, and tend to his brother’s sick dog. Roger, still stuck in the past, attempts to reconnect with his ex-girlfriend (Jennifer Jason Leigh), and former bandmate (Rhys Ifans). But Roger finds a new connection, with his brother’s housekeeper, Florence (Greta Gerwig), who has as least as many personal issues as Roger. After meeting Florence, Roger’s life begins to improve a bit.

Greenberg is a well made film. Ben Stiller is perfect as Roger Greenberg, showing his ability to play serious, as well as funny roles. The screenwriting is also very well done. Noah Baumbach has a way of taking a darker story, and making it into a very watchable movie. Greenberg is worth watching, for anyone who is interested in wither Noah Baumbach’s work, or is into independent films.

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Greenberg DVD Review By Maureen

**1/2 (out of 4)

Ben Stiller gives an honest, believable performance as Roger Greenberg, a depressed, single man in his forties. Greenberg has moved back to L.A. to housesit for his successful brother. While the brother is away Greenberg tries to reconnect with his ex-girlfriend (Jennifer Jason Leigh), and his former bandmate (Rhys Ifans). What he realizes is that sometimes time its too much distance and things can never be the same. Meanwhile the brother’s personal assistant, Florence (Greta Gerwig) is in and out of the house and forms a friendship with Greenberg despite her being considerably younger. Florence has problems of her own and the two help each other mature.

This is very much a relationship story. The tone is low-key with a dry sense of humour. It works because of the good performances by Stiller and Girwig. Greenberg is a very different kind of movie for Ben Stiller and it’s interesting seeing him perform in a more dramatic role. Fans of director Noah Baumbach and Ben Stiller will want to check out Greenberg.

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Greenberg DVD Review By Tony

*** (out of 4)

Greenberg (Ben Stiller) is a fortyish recovering mental patient who has agreed to watch his brother’s L.A. house and build him a doghouse during his brother’s family trip. Generally depressed and bored, he occupies himself with petty consumer complaints, and gets into a relationship with his brother’s personal assistant Florence (Greta Gerwig) whose self esteem is too low for her to say no to anything. Having been away for years in New York, he tries to get back with old friends, including his old bandmate Ivan (Rhys Ifans) and once girlfriend Beth (Jennifer Jason Leigh), but they have moved on with families of their own. Faced with crisis, Roger realizes that there is still hope.

Greenberg is the latest feature directed by Noah Baumbach which he co-wrote with his spouse Jennifer Jason Leigh. Though often depressing, it is saved by its good cast and script full of cynical wit, mainly through Greenberg’s own observations.

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Consensus: From director Noah Baumbach, Greenberg is a well-enough made film to be worth at least a rental. Ben Stiller also gives a good performance here, in a more dramatic role. *** (Out of 4)