Review of Greenberg (2010) by Gwen B — 24 Aug 2010

What a strange little movie.

Not in a bad way per se. I believe the writers and director put together a very believable modern day romance.

Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller) has just come out of a mental institution. He?s not evil or scary, just a little ?off.? And not off in a big way. He?s just confused, like most everyone else these days.

Roger travels cross country to house-sit for his brother while he and his family are on vacation. The family?s sitter, family assistant, whatever you want to call her, comes by to check on things. This is their first meeting.

Apparently Roger is attracted to Florence (Greta Gerwig), but it?s hard to say because there is no big emotional change in him. Or her for that matter. Throughout the movie it?s difficult to discern whether they are attracted to each other, or if they are just lonely.

Florence also has her issues. She generally chooses the wrong guy and inevitably gets hurt by them. And although Roger is not particularly nice to her, for some reason she is still drawn to him despite the 15 year age difference.

Roger?s best friend Ivan Schrank (Rhys Ifans), bottles up most of his anger toward his friend until the end of the movie when they actually speak their mind to each other.

You see Roger slowly progressing during the movie to some sort of decent human being, but it?s hard to like him or feel sympathy for the most part because of his self-centeredness and self-loathing.

This is a candid look at modern relationships and how complicated they can be when everyone has issues and/or baggage. It?s realistic, not particularly a date movie. The characterizations are good, drawing you in and giving you an opinion about each person.

There are some slow parts and at times you?ll get tired of hearing Ben Stiller whine about his problems, but this is definitely a movie where his acting talent shines through. Gerwig, still a new face appearing in her first move in 2006 (LOL), made a big impression on me with this role.

Probably the most frustrating part of the movie is the end - there is none - so be prepared to think ?that?s it?? Gwen Bishop.