Greenberg (2010)

I rather enjoyed this film. I have taken a shine to Noah Baumbach, and feel like I learn something new about the human condition every time I watch one of his films. At the same time every time I watch one of his films I feel recognizably irritable because the characters are really realistic, so it feels too true to real like.
Ben Stiller plays a 41 year old layabout, who has no direction in life and no plan ahead of him. He seems to leach off of friends and family, who are all very motivated, and he lives in the past. My interpretation is not that the character is a slacker, it's that he can't decide what he wants. It seems like his whole life he's on the edge of making a decision, but does not have the will to make that decision. Ben Stiller's performance is alright, but it's out of his range.
His love interest played by Greta Gerwig is someone who is a little more solid, but she is still in a funky transitional phase of her life. We learn that she is just getting out of a long-term relationship, so she is suffering emotionally, and Greta exhibits this very well in her performance. I enjoyed her character because I can somewhat identify with her lack of ability to ask for what she wants. She is definitely a pushover, and she doesn't change throughout the film, because anyone who has this trait knows that it is pretty hard to get over this behaviour, because it is comfortable.
Like all Baumbach's films, this films portray very awkward characters, who have trouble expressing themselves to other people. For this reason, they can sometimes be difficult to watch. Regardless, Greenberg is worth seeing. It's easier to watch than some of the other Baumbach films. It also may be the first film Jennifer Jason Leigh doesn't take her show her boobs. In my opinion Margot at the Wedding was the hardest to watch.