Greenberg (2010)

Tags

Ben Stiller, Chris Messina, Comedy, Drama, Greenberg, Greta Gerwig, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Movie, Rhys Ifans, Romance

yep, shoulda been called Marr...

R

Ben Stiller, Greta Gerwig, Rhys Ifans, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Chris Messina

Roger Greenberg: Dear Starbucks…In your attempt to manufacture culture out of fast food coffee, you’ve been surprisingly successful…for the most part.  The part that isn’t covered by “the most part” sucks.

After getting out of a mental institution, Roger Greenberg (Stiller) goes to California to house sit for his brother while he’s out of the country.  Roger meets and starts up an odd relationship with his brother’s younger assistant, Florence (Gerwig), while also dealing with resurfacing feelings for an old flame, Beth (Leigh).

In every comedic actor’s life, there comes a time when they must decide to take on a more dramatic role that still has a bit of dark humor to it.  Bill Murray would be a prime example of this.  Now add Ben Stiller to that list.  Actually, he’s probably done some semi-dramatic stuff before, but this just has that late career Murray feel to it.

The problem is, Stiller’s just not quite as likable as Murray.  His anger and hostility make me wonder why any of the other characters put up with him for very long, especially Florence.  She’s a little odd herself (I don’t think Gerwig could play a totally normal character – and I wouldn’t want her to), but she doesn’t deserve the abuse she’s dealt by Greenberg.  Though, I guess that’s sort of the point.  She sees past that to the person he is underneath.  Unfortunately, it was hard for me as a viewer to see the nicer person underneath, so the romance didn’t make much sense to me.

As for Gerwig, I’ve seen her in a few things now, and I’ve enjoyed her subtle loopiness every time.  I kept wishing the movie was more focused on her, like it was for the first 5-10 minutes, but then I guess it would have had to have been called Marr…since that’s her character’s last name.

I liked Rhys Ifans’ performance as well.  I haven’t seen him in a whole lot of stuff, but he’s always brought something interesting to the table in the movies I have seen him in.  This is no exception.  It’s a more normal guy character than I think he’s known for, but he pulls it off very well.

There’s some interesting themes involved here, about stuff from your past not allowing you to move on with your life, among other things, but overall, it’s the mean spirited nature of the movie, along with a wandering storyline that brings it down a bit.  It feels like there’s a more enjoyable and interesting movie lurking just below the surface or just off screen somewhere.  What was on screen wasn’t terrible, but it has mostly vanished from my mind in the days following my viewing of it.  When I can’t quite remember how a movie ended within a week of watching it, that’s not a very good sign.

Apparently dog houses take a very long time to build.

10 – 2 for an unlikable lead character – 1.1 for too many failed comedy attempts – 1 for a disorganized story/script = 5.9

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Enduring Love (2004)

Tags

Bill Nighy, Daniel Craig, Drama, Enduring Love, Movie, Rhys Ifans, Samantha Morton, Suspense

you're lucky I don't have my license to kill yet!

R

Daniel Craig, Samantha Morton, Rhys Ifans, Bill Nighy

Joe: You’re mad.
Jed: That’s what they said about Jesus once.
Joe: They also said it about a lot of mad people!

While having a pleasant day in the countryside, Joe (Craig) and Claire (Morton) witness a hot air balloon accident that costs a man his life.  Joe feels like he could have done more to prevent the man’s death, and his guilt starts to eat away at him.  Meanwhile, another man who was there that day has taken a bizarre interest in Joe and follows him everywhere.

Is love real?  Is it an unexplainable feeling, or is it just a chemical reaction the body uses to fool us into procreating?  This is the subject that Joe, a college professor and writer, seems to spend all his time discussing with his students.  What course he’s teaching exactly, I’m not sure, but his students never seem too thrilled about it.  Neither does Joe’s girlfriend, Claire.  She’s an artist who seems to lean more towards a less concrete idea of what love is.

Something about that balloon accident has pushed Joe far to the end of the spectrum where love is just a biological process and nothing in the world happens for a reason.  Just as his psyche is starting to unravel over the seeming randomness of life, in walks Jed (Ifans)…and gets it unraveling even faster.

Jed was there at the field when the accident occurred.  He tried to help too.  He and Joe found the dead man’s body together which, to Jed, created some sort of bond between them.  And he’s not letting it go.

There’s a bit of a Hitchcockian feel to this movie, which I’m always a fan of, with an average guy getting thrown into a confusing, life-changing situation out of the blue.  As Joe gets more and more confused by his situation, the people around him get more and more confused and frustrated with Joe.  The tension builds to an intentionally frustrating level until it reaches the point that you’re totally sympathetic with Joe when he wants to just start smashing things with a baseball bat.

This movie has its flaws, and I imagine it could be a challenge to get through for some, but I like what director Roger Michell was trying to do with it.  He ramped up frustration levels in a previous film, Changing Lanes, but I think this movie might do that movie one better in that arena.  There’s some interesting, inventive camera angles, good performances, and a nice creepy mood throughout.  It probably holds the tension a little too long, and then wraps things up with too nice a bow on top in the end, but I was still along for the ride.

I wouldn’t be surprised if people let go and drop off early though…just like Joe did.

Be careful opening and closing your curtains.  You might be inadvertently sending signals to stalkers.

10 – 1.5 for being a little TOO aggravating at times – .5 for some odd musical choices – 1 for too neat of an ending = 7.0