Review of Greenberg (2010) by Peter M — 15 Jun 2011

Meh. Sloooooow movie with very unlikeable characters. I expected I'd find myself feeling more sympathetic to Greenberg, or more understanding of Florence's romantic interest IN him by the end, but... no, not really. Greenberg seemingly can't help his cynicism and hurtful outbursts, but nonetheless it sure isn't endearing and he really needs to take himself less seriously, as his friend played by Rhys Ifans suggests. Ifans is a mellow, welcome relief from the drudgery of the other characters in the film.

I'd have really liked to understand better why there were romantic sparks between Greenberg and Florence. I've seen pieces like this before where it's clear that, for whatever reason, these two social misfits are just made for each other. And I didn't get that here. Just lots of eye-rolling and feelings of "honey, you can do SO much better". Like mouthing off at the screen with that.