With “Greenberg” Noah Baumbach directs his third great film in recent years — after “The Squid and the Whale” and “Margot at the Wedding”. All of them combine heartbreakingly vulnerable characters with painfully observant humor. His films almost make you feel guilty for laughing. I love them all. Very few directors are as truthful and honest about the flawed human race as Baumbach.
In this effort, Ben Stiller, usually known for his all-out comedies, revisits a darker side of his repertoire as the title character. I haven’t seen a performance like this from Stiller since his great turn in “Your Friends & Neighbors” back in 1998. He plays Roger Greenberg, a self-consumed depressive, recently institutionalized, who is aimlessly floating through a middle-aged crisis. While house-sitting in Los Angeles for his brother, he meets a young woman (Greta Gerwig), fifteen years his junior, who has issues of her own. Over the course of a month, they navigate the mundane and awkward moments of life together. What results is a touching and brutal relationship — often hilarious and always interesting. Both Stiller and Gerwig deserve to be considered during the next award season.
“Greenberg” is one of the better films of 2010. It will likely end up on the cusp of my year end Top 10 List. If you have any appreciation for Baumbach’s “Squid” or “Margot”, then you simply have to take a look. If you are new to his work, I urge you to take a chance and add them all to your must-see list.
