GREENBERG (Noah Baumbach, 2010)

Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller), a neurotic New Yorker, moves to Los Angeles for six weeks to look after his brother's place while he and his family vacation in Vietnam (where else?!). Through these six revelatory weeks, Greenberg confronts the troubles in his life with meeting old friends and girlfriends, while getting romantically close with his brother's assistant Florence (Greta Gerwig).

While this film may sound like one of the Woody Allen/Wes Anderson type flicks... well, it is, and it isn't. Noah Baumbach is a regular collaborator with Anderson, yet his movies have a distinction on their own. Baumbach has just one shortcoming with his movies: since his characters are almost always have an I-hate-the-world attitude, it makes them so unlikable. That's what his last flick, Margot At The Wedding, suffered from. But the one before that, The Squid And The Whale, made it art.

Baumbach still holds onto those trademarks with Greenberg, but like The Squid And The Whale, these unlikable character become lovable. And that really is due to Ben Stiller's awesome job tackling the lead role. It is a hard character to play, don't get me wrong. Stiller plays Roger Greenberg as being this fun-loving guy on the inside, but has no idea how to convey that without giving away the brutally honest truth. And with that, Stiller makes Greenberg capable of redemption, making him three-dimensional.

I was also pleased to see members of the mumblecore filmmaking scene present here. Greta Gerwig plays Greenberg's love interest, and the totally awesome Mark Duplass plays one of Greenberg's friends. If you haven't seen the Duplass Brothers' movie The Puffy Chair, well, then, go do that RIGHT NOW, don't even read the rest of this thing, c'mon, do it, I dare ya, I know it's hard.

Baumbach does a good job here. The movie gets a lot more interesting as it goes along, and it seems like a return to form for him after the overly-neurotic Margot At The Wedding.

BOTTOM LINE: Noah Baumbach goes back to what made The Squid And The Whale so charming and creates a sympathetic portrait of a man at a crossroads, played so deftly and professionally by Ben Stiller. It will have you thinking long after the flick has ended.