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Greenberg (DVD)

by Mark Demetrius | November 11, 2010 13:35 | Edited November 11, 2010 15:08

While the film strives too hard for quirkiness, it’s extremely watchable and anchored by Ben Stiller’s brilliant lead performance.

The whole of Greenberg is rather less than the sum of its parts. They add up to a standard saga about a rather unstable middle aged man and a younger woman, but they include great lines and a strong central performance by Ben Stiller, who effectively plays Roger Greenberg, a forty-year-old carpenter and ex-muso who's just come out of a mental asylum. Roger is in LA to mind his brother's house for a few weeks, where he catches up with old flame Beth (Jennifer Jason Leigh), and old chum, Ivan (Rhys Ifans). But the meat of the matter is his nascent relationship with young singer, Florence (Greta Gerwig).

 

This involves a lot of awkwardness, frayed tempers, a measure of lust, and ultimately possibly of love. Stiller is great as the self-obsessed and sharp-witted Roger, with an unnerving capacity to project stares that are half blank and half frenzied.

 

Though Greenberg tries a bit hard to be quirky, it gets away with it. There's a memorable party scene involving the twin pitfalls of drug-fuelled paranoia and the generation gap. And, for an ephemeral yarn with a familiar theme and Seinfeld/Tarantino-style small talk, it's all very watchable.

 

Special features are limited to a collection of fairly insightful making-of featurettes.