While admittedly not a huge fan of Margot at the Wedding, I’m still willing to give Noah Baumbach the benefit of the doubt after his fantastic turn out (one of the best of the decade actually) with The Squid and the Whale. While this new trailer for Greenberg looks like it still has the angsty, man deals with family and age stuff, it looks like it’s probably a lot lighter and less depressing than Margot; especially with Ben Stiller in the lead – who looks like he’s turning in an actual performance here rather than that of the silliness ilk.
Out of a job and none too interested in finding one, Greenberg agrees to housesit for his younger and more successful brother, thereby getting a free place to stay in Los Angeles. Once settled in, Greenberg sets out to reconnect with his old friend and former bandmate Ivan. But times have changed, and old friends aren’t necessarily still best friends, so Greenberg finds himself spending more and more time instead with his brother’s personal assistant Florence, an aspiring singer and herself something of a lost soul.
Director: Noah Baumbach (Margot at the Wedding, Squid & the Whale, Kicking and Screaming)
Starring: Ben Stiller, Rhys Ifans, Juno Temple, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Mark Duplass, Dave Franco, Chris Messina
Release: March 12
I’m not a Ben Stiller fan, but I love Noah Baumbach, Margot notwithstanding. Both The Squid and the Whale and Kicking and Screaming are fantastic. And hey, Greta Gerwig in something not completely Mumblecore. I’m kind of looking forward to that. I’m keeping my fingers crossed and pretending Margot didn’t happen.
Put me in the Kicking and Screaming love camp. I believe there is a Criterion version of the film but I’ve never seen one in person. Might have to get on that – it’s been a long time.
It’s worth it for the Tarantino explains Top Gun scene alone.
Margot was fine, and this looks promising.
Andrew, yes, I saw it on Criterion. One of my best friends in grad school had it. We all watched it one night, and it was like watching ourselves – college graduates who didn’t know what the hell to do after we graduated. We chose going to grad school, but that really just puts off the decision again, doesn’t it?
The Criterion has a cover with a bunch of the quotes on it. I LOVE IT. “Oh. I’ve been to Prague.” I’ve now got my friends who haven’t even SEEN the movie quoting that.
Mike, I really, really wanted to like Margot, and while I probably didn’t hate it as much as most people seemed to, it just really wasn’t that good. High disappointing after his other films. This one looks like it could get back on track.