A True Underdog Story

Greenberg

*** out of ****

Directed by: Noah Baumbach

Starring: Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans and Jennifer Jason Leigh

Running time: 107 minutes

Independent filmmaker Noah Baumbach must be a giant fan of French New Wave auteur Jean-Luc Godard. His latest film, the offbeat and acerbically funny Greenberg, owes much to that director’s inaugural classic, Breathless.

While replacing the stunning city lights of Paris with the lavish hillside spreads of Los Angeles, he keeps its stylistic jump cutting, aimless characters and meandering storyline.

Baumbach’s latest is also the story of “un vraiment degueulass,” an unstable narcissist named Roger Greenberg. He’s portrayed by Ben Stiller, branching off from loopy blockbuster comedies to riskier dramatic material a la Adam Sandler in Punch-Drunk Love.

Greenberg is house-sitting at his wealthy brother’s estate in the Hollywood Hills as his family vacations for six weeks in sunny Vietnam.

He’s been treated at a New York mental institution for some unexplained circumstance. Although a carpentry career has given him some focus, he doesn’t do much.

Greenberg spends much time with an old pal and band-mate named Ivan (Rhys Ifans), who's going through some marital problems. He also writes off-handed complaint letters to powerful companies, voicing his frustration. Besides that, Greenberg doesn’t have many cares and doesn’t seem to mind either.

Florence (Greta Gerwig) is an entirely different story. She’s a sunny young musician and a caretaker for the Greenberg family. Most of her time consists of driving through busy L.A. intersections to run errands for them.

But her obligations extend to Roger, who craves extra company and refuses to get behind the wheel of a car. Florence and Roger may be foils, but of course, they fall for each other.

This romance should never work, but it does due to the magnetic lead performances.

It may be his looniest character yet, but Stiller abandons his loose, colourful persona here. He’s subtle and natural for much of the film – sans le overcooked outbursts – but also demonstrates great focus, especially for an off-balance character.

Roger Greenberg is a dismal and usually vile person to be around. He's a guy you'd make an effort to avoid at a party.

The character is also the film’s teetering point. One’s overall engagement in the story will depend on the patience he or she has with the character. Regardless of his difficult personality, Stiller manages to offer him unusual pathos.

As good as Stiller is, his co-star Greta Gerwig is even greater. Of little notoriety due to her work in smaller, Sundance-worthy projects, she’s transcendent here as Florence.

Gerwig mixes the energetic charm of Ellen Page, the modest sensibility of Virginia Madsen, and the dignity of a young Kate Winslet. Her approach is hauntingly silent but her craft is effortless. She is hypnotic, and has got a tremendous career ahead.

Both actors usher a humanity into this shifty romantic entanglement. We can see these two confused souls looking into the other, trying their best to extract something good and positive from the other.

It’s a frustrating relationship to watch. “Hurt people hurt people," Florence comments at one point, speaking of its harsh, bruised nature. While their romance sometimes turns awry, many of their scenes together are quite tender.

Greenberg is bound to frustrate those not familiar with the episodic meanderings that Baumbach homages. The story takes many excursions with its wandering protagonist.

His meeting with an old girlfriend (Jennifer Jason Leigh, also Baumbach’s wife) and a late party scene with coked-up teenagers serve little purpose within the story, but are present only to fuel the character.

Curiously, even with all the emphasis on Greenberg, there’s a pregnant emptiness within him. We never get right to the core of his emotional exile, and therefore the character feels incomplete. We want him to be redeemed but don’t know precisely how he needs to be saved.

The film may move in fits and starts – characteristic of French New Wave features – but the writing is smooth. The characters don’t speak dialogue but talk in sentences. It's an unforced normalcy, one that's rare to find at the cinema nowadays.

Many will walk into Greenberg expecting to find the dramatic soul of a successful comedy actor. Instead, they will discover someone else's. Her name is Greta Gerwig.

Just be forewarned: this may be the sourest romantic comedy in ages.