Review of Greenberg (2010) by Jiana W — 13 Jul 2011

Boring character-driven film. Ben Stiller is in an unusally dramatic element here and it's a little weird seeing him so serious. Don't get me wrong; he's good, but again, it's just strange when I'm used to him being funny. There was a laugh out loud moment though earlier in the film when he's trying to cross the street and an SUV swerves in front of him. Other than that, it's a pretty serious movie with no laughs and not a whole lot of anything happening.

While it's a character-driven film, none of them are particularly interesting enough to want to follow for an hour and a half and the main character (Roger) is someone I found myself consistently rooting *against*.

He is an arrogant, extremely unlikeable loser. It's a wonder anyone AT ALL would want to be around him, let alone see him as a romantic prospect. The love interest, Florence, is played by Greta Gerwig. To me, Gerwig seems like a blond Zooey Deschanel, minus the quirky charm. Her tone of voice and deliverance of her lines are similar to Deschanel's, and if you aren't convinced by that, she sings in the movie (a song with strange, hipster lyrics. Just like Zooey.) Her character, Florence, is a pretty pitiful character. She never stands up for herself, but takes Roger's verbal abuse and meanness. This movie'll drive home the annoying stereotype that women likes a-holes, because Roger most certainly is one.

I felt like there wasn't enough Rhys Ifans, as Roger's former band mate and buddy, Ivan. I would've loved to see more of him.

Anyway, don't waste your time. It's remarkably drab, with an annoying protagonist whom I couldn't even force myself to like. Not even for a minute.