Review of Greenberg (2010) by Peter H — 04 Sep 2011

Noah Baumbach's Greenberg is awkward enough to be a comical but also subdued enough to be somber. Its conflicted tone may represent Greenberg's frustration, his angry need to avoid responsibility so as to stop hurting people, all the while resisting the change he seeks.

Or it may be the result of a sloppy filmmaker, one who delved so deep into his character's psyche that he may have neglected to watch what that character was doing or forgot to clue us on his state of mind.

In either case, most people will either find Greenberg a compelling character study or else somewhere on the continuum of boring.