By Clint Morris
It’s been quite a while since Ben Stiller has proven his worth – in fact, over a decade, when he played comedy writer Jerry Stahl in the rattling biopic ”Permanent Midnight”. Sure, we know the star of ”Night at the Museum” and ”Tropic Thunder” can tell a good joke, but most probably assume that’s all he has to offer – and fair enough too, in recent times it’d seen the highly-paid actor has become no less than a hot prop in a series of films that merely want his name, not his knowhow. What ”Greenberg” does is remind not only audiences, but Hollywood (who have invested so much in him), that Ben Stiller is an actor – an actor far too good to be hanging around with reanimated incarnations of Ahkmenrah and Octavius of in a series of weak kids flicks.
The latest big-on-character short-on-plot effort from acclaimed indy director Noah Baumbach (”Margot at the Wedding”, ”The Squid and the Whale”),”Greenberg” features Stiller as a not entirely likeable but very interesting forty-year-old that’s seemingly been defined by his battle with mental illness.
Greenberg has arrived in Los Angeles from New York to take care of his brother’s house – he and his family are off to Vietnam. Being straight out of the “mental hospital”, and seemingly happy just to be away from doctors, the scruffy loner is quite happy to be doing jack-squat – and plans on doing just that. Things change though when he decides to utilize the services of his brother’s assistant Florence (Greta Gerwig), who we discover is as equally lonely and messed-up as our hero. Though determined not to begin a relationship with Florence, Greenberg can’t seem to pull himself away.
Though not a film for the casual moviegoer, since its pace is so languorous and, some may say, arguably purposeless, ”Greenberg” is the perfect film for Stiller to be doing right now. He has proved he can open a tentpole blockbuster, but a lot of folks, especially considering Permanent Midnight didn’t go anywhere (but a VHS bargain bit at your local rental store), don’t realize that Stiller’s actually quite a good actor. Much like Stallone, Sandler , Carrey, Ferrell and a handful of other actors that most would consider lucked into their roles as big-time ‘movie stars’, Stiller simply hasn’t had the chance to prove he’s more than a cinematic goofball best viewed with popcorn. As Greenberg, Stiller gives a somewhat brave performance as an imperfect, downhearted, common Joe – and he’s so convincing, that you’ll be wondering why he hasn’t taken the plunge sooner (that’s easy to answer, it’s all to do with money).
And though Stiller has been lucky enough to have shared the screen with such beauties as Amy Adams (”Night at the Museum 2”), Jennifer Aniston (”Along Came Polly”), Cameron Diaz (”There’s Something About Mary”) and real-life wife Christine Taylor (”Zoolander”, ”Dodgeball”), this might be the first time we’ve actually believed the on-screen relationship he’s [reluctantly] in. He and newcomer Greta Gerwig (soon to be seen in the Liza Minnelli role in the Russell Brand-starring remake of ”Arthur”) are one of the most perfectly matched screen couples since Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort. For a romance that doesn’t even come close to being described as ‘hot’, Stiller and Gerwig sure do produce fireworks.
Greenberg’s journey, as penned by Baumbach and actress Jennifer Jason Leigh (who also has a role in the film; as an ex-girlfriend of the lead character), isn’t an overtly exciting one, and that’s partly the fault of the aforementioned writers, who fail to go as far with the character as we might like – we don’t really get an understanding into what makes this guy tick; they really needed to go deeper – but it’s still a reasonably intriguing expose anyway, with much thanks to Stiller.
Extras
Three very, very short featurettes. Would’ve benefited from a commentary.
