Review of Greenberg (2010) by Spud — 17 Oct 2010

Minimalism is no excuse for a poor screenplay, and artsiness is no justification for poor direction. Paolo Sorrentino is a minimalist director, and his films are brilliant. David Lynch is an artsy director, and his films are brilliant too.

The problem with Noah Baumbach's films -well, ONE of the problems with his RECENT films- is that he seems to have picked up that terrible habit that Wes Anderson had for a little while until a couple of years ago.

See, Anderson too thought for a few years that he could get away with compiling a series of quirky vignettes and calling it a screenplay. Thus, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) and The Darjeeling Limited (2007) are nowhere near as accomplished and coherent as Rushmore (1998) and The Royal Tenenbaums (2001).

Bottle Rocket (1996) is a different case, as it was his first film. Its imperfections have to do with lack of experience, and they are easily forgiven. Anderson's latest film, Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009, co-written by Baumbach, by the way), saw him come back to form.

Now, Baumbach's best film to date is clearly the outstanding The Squid and the Whale (2005), after which, he decided to hit us in the head with the bluntly morose Margot at the Wedding (2007). Greenberg, unfortunately, is in the same vein of the latter, not the former.

It is so absolutely bourgeois (anyone outside of the upper middle-classes simply does not exist), that Sofia Coppola might feel challenged when it comes to the position of "Most White-Bread Director in the World.

" Ever since The Squid and the Whale Baumbach has been directing films that are uninspired and uninspiring collections of eccentric details and overly wacky situations. No story, no depth, no character development.

Just irritating, adolescent forty-somethings complaining about their Beaujolais. Ignore the hype. This is not a good film.