Greenberg

In this shrewdly observed comic portrait of an annoying egomaniac, Ben Stiller stars as Roger Greenberg, a struggling one-time rock musician who arrives at his brother's place in L.A. to look after the house while the family is on vacation. But the real household responsibility lies with amiable nanny Florence (Greta Gerwig), who's just coming off a bad breakup. Needless to say, she and Roger gradually grow close, although it's not a smooth romantic road, given his whining, self-absorbed personality. Nor do things go well in meetings with an ex-girlfriend named Beth (Jennifer Jason Leigh), for whom Roger still carries a torch, or his old band buddy Ivan (Rhys Ifans), a laidback guy trying to stay clean while being separated from the wife Roger continually bad-mouths. Greenberg the movie could have been as exasperating as Greenberg the character, but director Noah Baumbach's detailed and precise approach meshes perfectly with Stiller's performance to create a quietly unobtrusive, revealing, and pretty funny film. Surprisingly, hanging out with an obnoxious jerk for a couple of hours turns out to be a good time. Recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette (4 min.), a “Greenberg Loves Los Angeles” location featurette (2 min.), “Noah Baumbach Takes a Novel Approach” on the screenplay (2 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is the BD-Live function. Bottom line: a small extras package for a winning film.] (F. Swietek)