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Thursday, April 22, 2010

Greenberg (Review)



Ben Stiller was bound to do it eventually. Take a leaf out of Adam Sandler’s book and make an indie movie about an offbeat main character who finds the woman he believes he was born to spend the left of his life with, but his own flaws appear to keep that from happening. Comedians were born to play roles like this. Sandler did it again last year with his great performance in the underappreciated (but at the same time not as good as it could have been) Funny People. Now Ben Stiller puts on his frowny-face and shows us what he’s got.

For the most part, it’s pretty good. This character is perfect for Stiller, who does his best work here as Roger Greenberg, a man who, as he puts it, does “nothing on purpose”. His past is fuzzy at best, but what we do know is he was part of a band out of college. They were offered a record deal, but leave it to Greenberg to ditch his band and head out to New York to be a carpenter. Some of his bandmates have forgiven him, or pretended to, and some still hold a lot of resentment. It is also hinted that he just got out of a mental institution, but we are withheld from any real details.

Greenberg is one tough person to identify with. There is not much likable going on here, which tests the audience. You go in to a Ben Stiller movie expecting his character to be endearing in some way. Well, good luck finding that here. As a character Roger Greenberg is infinitely frustrating just to watch. Every time you think he might be getting somewhere, he drops down to square one time and time again. This is because we all know that in real life people don’t have that moment when they stare into the mirror, start crying as emotional music wells up, and run out the door finally having a purpose in life. Knock on door, loving embrace, cue credits. Greenberg refuses such an ending.

While that is refreshing, sometimes this movie goes overboard with that idea. We see the same scene time and time again, sometimes with the same character and sometimes with a different character. This film just barely outstays its welcome, including a regrettable sidebar towards the end. I won’t give much detail, but Australia is involved. It barely lasts 5 minutes, but I thought it was one eccentricity too many.

This movie was obviously designed as an indie vehicle for Ben Stiller, but I was most impressed, perhaps, by the performance of Greta Gerwig as Florence, who is exceedingly normal in many ways, but also a little off-base. She is seeking a long-term relationship, but she couldn’t find it if it tap-danced on her face. This has led her to be a tad promiscuous, and she sees every man she meets as “the one”, only to be sorely disappointed. You know the woman who constantly says “I just got out of a long relationship”? Florence is that woman. Three times over.

Greenberg’s best friend is Ivan, a British lad who after the band breakup is now fixing computers in Los Angeles. Ivan buries most of his real emotions about Greenberg and tries to be a friendly presence. Towards the end Greenberg asks Ivan what people think about him, and Ivan tells him, but it’s easy to tell these thoughts don’t come exclusively from other people.

So far this sounds like a mostly positive review, but I was more mixed on the film as a whole than it may sound. Most of this might come from the fact that the film refuses to go anywhere, though that might be mostly intentional. This movie wants to be grating, especially the woefully unlikable main character. As David Edelstein of New York Magazine says,Greenberg would be a heckuva movie if we could just get Greenberg out of there.” I don’t entirely agree with that, because the point of this movie IS Greenberg. I liked Greenberg as a character, but despised him as a person. It’s like being forced to spend two hours with someone who basically yells at you for making his mistakes. There were times I wanted to throw something at the screen, but I was afraid I would miss and hit the elderly couple in one of the first few rows.

At the end of the day a movie has to be a worthwhile experience, and you have to be glad you just saw it. Al Qaeda execution videos could have Oscar-worthy cinematography, but that doesn’t mean I want to watch it. I have just recently viewed Oliver Stone's The Doors, which provided this same feeling, but multiplied by 100. When this movie was over I felt like I was not quite properly rewarded for my time. It is well made, but about ¾ realized. This is a movie that was often thought-provoking and entertaining, but in the end disposable and not quite what I wished it was.

Rating: (out of 4)

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