embracing the life you never planned on

We've all had this experience before. I'm at work trying to explain to a co-worker why he needs to see a new movie I absolutely loved. The movie in question is the recently released comedy/drama, Greenberg. Just after revealing it stars Ben Stiller I am dismissed completely. Ok, I can understand a little apprehension towards the funny man.
I tell him "Greenberg is to Ben Stiller what Punch Drunk Love is to Adam Sandler."
Nothing.
"But I hate Adam Sandler!" I protest.
Still nothing.
"Noah Baumbach is the director. Does that mean anything to you?"
...
I then briefly try explaining to him why it's required contemporary viewing. How it's the best film I've seen this year (The White Ribbon doesn't count as it was a 2009 release I simply saw this year). He concluded the conversation with a mere "I'll download it when it comes out."

I felt defeated to say the least. What else could I have said? Well, let me first warn you that you're probably not going to like this film. As with nearly all great films in recent memory, most audience members left the Sunrise Cinema I saw it at grumbling to themselves, posting trite phrases on the message board in the theater's lobby such as "tedious!" or "BORING!". I tell you this not to dissuade you, but rather to make a rather valid point. With an unlikeable, narcissistic protagonist, Greenberg is not Meet the Fockers.

In Greenberg, Stiller plays a depressed, passive aggressive 40-something New Yorker house-sitting for his vacationing brother in his hometown of L.A. There he catches up with old friends including his ex-girlfriend ("the one that got away") and two past best friends and band mates. He also meets and immediately commences a relationship with his brother's assistant, Florence, an adorable but lost 20-something played by Greta Gerwig. The short but passionate journey upon witch the titular character embarks is a rocky, grueling, and at times remarkable one. Living a life of cynicism and regret ever since walking out on a recording contract and losing what he feels was the woman of his dreams, Roger Greenberg has reached a tipping point during witch he's decided to do "nothing" in a sad attempt to reconcile his deep seeded self-reproach. Equally lost but not yet jaded is Florence whom may be able to save him, if he only gives her the chance.

Roger is constantly pushed outside of his comfort zone of witty one liners and writing letters of complaint to large corporations. As a New York pedestrian who has forgotten to drive a car, a point is made in the film about how he is basically stranded in L.A, dependent upon others for this basic need. Throughout the film he has no choice but to ask for a ride, usually from Florence, forcing him to make contact with those around him even when he'd rather ignore them. Most of us need small earthquakes sometimes to shake us up and get us moving when in a rut. Then again, there are some like Roger that need more than that. With this in mind, Greenberg is fascinating as we watch the main character as he is forced to confront the breaking down of wall after wall.

Stiller does everything asked of him by the ingeniously true-to-life screenplay (his character's Chap-Stick obsession is hilarious). However, it is Mumblecore director Gerwig, who AO Scott said "may well be the definitive screen actress of her generation," that does a fabulous job of seemingly not acting at all. She steals just about every scene from Stiller and gives Greenberg its delicate heart and soul.

This, Baumbach's third film and what many believe to be his best, is a rather bleak, cautionary tale and ultimately an uplifting and thought provoking one. Though you may not notice if you blink. I believe it is also an important film. Important because it reflects a common contemporary disease: the relentless pursuit of the career. More specifically the drive to become famous and/or "successful", ingrained into all of us from the moment we enter this world, increased unabated as we age. This self-indulgent societal disease tells us we are failures if haven't "made it" by the time we're 40, making no reference to a basic human need... What of love? What of our relationships? I'm not talking about marriage, kids, and a home. Instead I am referring to the building of lasting and meaningful relationships with as many as one can possibly fit into one's life. What ever happened to the pursuit of this kind of success? Success at love. Baumbach's Roger Greenberg finds out the hard way that it is this kind of success that has alluded him his entire adult life. He finds that he must, as his best friend realizes, embrace the life he never planned on. If he can do this... If we can do this, essentially reorganizing our priorities, then everything will fall into place. Yes, it's that simple.

Watch the misleading trailer for Greenberg below. The film is not nearly this romantic or blatantly uplifting.