CASPER
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The lesson Ben Stiller's praise-hungry actor learned in "Tropic Thunder" was that "you never go full retard" when playing a simpleton in hopes of snaring an Academy Award.
Stiller himself goes full nutcase, or near enough, in "Greenberg," and while the results won't earn him an Oscar, it turned out pretty well.
As the title character, a guy pausing at mid-life to lick his wounds, heal some old rifts and maybe open a few new ones, Stiller manages quite a nice performance.
Rather than the silly, caricatured buttheads on which Stiller's made his fortune, in "Greenberg" he plays a true butthead, a man with deep emotional scars, a backpack full of guilt and a bushel of regrets. Here's a man whose excess of self-involvement, self-doubt and self-loathing often make him unpleasant to be around — so the fact that he's still an engaging character is a testament to the fine line Stiller manages to walk.
Stiller is paired to great effect with Greta Gerwig in a breakout role as an aspiring musician with her own self-esteem issues, a woman who kind of falls for Greenberg despite his off-putting demeanor.
The film marks a nice rebound for director Noah Baumbach, who made the heartbreaking divorce portrait "The Squid and the Whale," then stumbled with the stagy, phony sibling drama "Margot at the Wedding."
With a story Baumbach developed with producer, co-star and real-life wife Jennifer Jason Leigh, "Greenberg" is a perceptive look at coming to terms with, if not entirely embracing, the life you weren't expecting and by no means wanted.
Stiller himself goes full nutcase, or near enough, in "Greenberg," and while the results won't earn him an Oscar, it turned out pretty well.
As the title character, a guy pausing at mid-life to lick his wounds, heal some old rifts and maybe open a few new ones, Stiller manages quite a nice performance.
Rather than the silly, caricatured buttheads on which Stiller's made his fortune, in "Greenberg" he plays a true butthead, a man with deep emotional scars, a backpack full of guilt and a bushel of regrets. Here's a man whose excess of self-involvement, self-doubt and self-loathing often make him unpleasant to be around — so the fact that he's still an engaging character is a testament to the fine line Stiller manages to walk.
Stiller is paired to great effect with Greta Gerwig in a breakout role as an aspiring musician with her own self-esteem issues, a woman who kind of falls for Greenberg despite his off-putting demeanor.
The film marks a nice rebound for director Noah Baumbach, who made the heartbreaking divorce portrait "The Squid and the Whale," then stumbled with the stagy, phony sibling drama "Margot at the Wedding."
With a story Baumbach developed with producer, co-star and real-life wife Jennifer Jason Leigh, "Greenberg" is a perceptive look at coming to terms with, if not entirely embracing, the life you weren't expecting and by no means wanted.