Greenberg - DVD

Film: The name Ben Stiller stands primarily for quite raucous comedies with lots of entertainment value but without much depth. Stiller seems to be fixed on a certain type of role, which he embodies in films like "Nights at the Museum", ".and then came Polly" or "Crazy for Mary" over and over again in a similar form. Only rarely does he manage to break out of this fixed pattern. Most of the time it is smaller productions in which he proves that there is a certain versatility in him that he should show more often. Good proof of this is the independent production "Greenberg" by Noah Baumbach ("The Squid and the Whale"), which finally presents us with a very different Ben Stiller once again.

Once upon a time, Roger Greenberg (Stiller) was on the verge of a great music career with his best friends. But single-handedly decided against the lucrative record deal and sought success in New York. Now, at 40, Roger is facing the wreckage of his life. He is alone, bitter, unsuccessful. Unlike his brother, whose house in Los Angeles the depressed ex-musician is supposed to look after for a few weeks. Roger wants to use this time to find himself again after a breakdown and also to meet some of his old friends again. However, they still don't like Roger very much and all of them lead a rather stuffy existence by now. Only the young Florence (Greta Gerwig), who works for Roger's brother as a maid-of-all-trades, gives him back a piece of his youth. But 25-year-old Florence's life is also completely chaotic and unsorted - and two such chaotic characters just can't work together. Or can they?

Noah Baumbach once again does a first-rate job of breaking up reality-based drama with understated, quiet humor in "Greenberg", providing the best kind of level-headed entertainment. In doing so, he reveals an extremely accurate gift for observation. The meeting between Roger and his childhood sweetheart Beth, played by Baumbach's wife Jennifer Jason Leigh, is almost painfully close to reality, so that anyone who has ever been in a very similar situation with a former great love will find their stomach tightening. Baumbach does a very good job of capturing the absurdities of everyday life, though he does run the risk of throwing the audience under the bus in some ways.

Because Baumbach's protagonists aren't always the most sympathetic. That was already the case with the character Jeff Daniels played in "The Squid and the Whale,

and it's the same with Roger Greenberg. However, this is also where the film's greatest strength lies. Granted, Roger Greenberg is an unlikeable character who undergoes limited change throughout the course of the story. However, this character offers Ben Stiller the opportunity to play a very different form of loser for once. Greenberg, with all of his shortcomings, is a very layered character that Stiller brings to life in an impressive way without slipping for a moment into the pattern of the sympathetic loser that is so familiar to him.

The American independent scene's esteemed Greta Gerwig somehow provides a complementary counterpoint to Stiller's character with her youthful charm, twinkling eyes, and yet somehow utterly cranky soul. The result is arguably one of the most unusual, but in just that unusual way, most believable on-screen couples in recent memory. Far away from any form of kitsch and clichés, "Greenberg" tells a wonderful love story, as only life can write it.

"Greenberg" is certainly not a film for the masses, just not a typical Ben Stiller comedy, but first-class American independent cinema, which does not really satisfy in the end, but perhaps also draws part of its strength from this. In the end, one wish remains: to see Ben Stiller more often in such roles and to see more of Greta Gerwig. Absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: Technically, the DVD is on a good level and thus meets the demands that can be placed on a small independent production like this. The picture is clean and the overall sharpness can convince over long stretches. Only the sharpness of detail leaves something to be desired here and there. The sound remains restrained throughout the film and is dominated by the rather front-heavy mixed dialogue.

Extras: The offering sounds promising. But unfortunately, all of the featurettes are only a few minutes long and therefore offer little in the way of meaty information. Neither the scant, less than five minute long making of, nor the two mini-featurettes (only 1:33 mins and 2:09 mins long respectively) or the uncommented look behind the scenes in the form of B-roll footage (approx. 3 mins) can convince. The various interviews, which were also recorded during the Berlinale, go into a bit more depth, but really substantial information should not be expected here either. The impressions from the red carpet of the Berlinale, on the other hand, are again extremely short. On top of all this, there is also the trailer. Partly quite worth seeing, but overall rather a weak bonus package.

Conclusion: "Greenberg" is not a film for the masses, for that the main characters are simply too bulky and also too unsympathetic. But friends of the American independent cinema will get their money's worth thanks to the quirky production and the great actors. Picture and sound quality of the DVD are on a decent level, but the bonus material promises more than it can deliver. Nevertheless, applies to this DVD: absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp