A man from Los Angeles, who moved to New York years ago, returns to L.A. to figure out his life while he house-sits for his brother. He soon sparks with his brother's assistant.A man from Los Angeles, who moved to New York years ago, returns to L.A. to figure out his life while he house-sits for his brother. He soon sparks with his brother's assistant.A man from Los Angeles, who moved to New York years ago, returns to L.A. to figure out his life while he house-sits for his brother. He soon sparks with his brother's assistant.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 16 nominations
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn the early drafts of the screenplay, Greenberg was written as a man in his early 30s. Inspired by the idea of casting Ben Stiller, Noah Baumbach & Jennifer Jason Leigh rewrote the entire script and made Greenberg to be 40 years old, turning 41.
- GoofsIn the final scene just after Roger received the second doll he walks screen right. As the camera pans with his movement, it appears as though the camera is visible in the bathroom mirror at the back of the scene.
- Quotes
Florence Marr: You like old things.
Roger Greenberg: A shrink said to me once that I have trouble living in the present, so I linger on the past because I felt like I never really lived it in the first place, you know?
- SoundtracksJet Airliner
Written by Paul Pena
Performed by Steve Miller Band
Courtesy of Sailor Records
under exclusive license to Capitol Records
Under license from EMI Film & Television Music
Featured review
Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller) is single, forty-ish and at a crossroads in his life, finds himself in Los Angeles, house-sitting for six weeks for his more successful/married-with-children brother. In search of a place to restart his life, Greenberg tries to reconnect with old friends including his former band mate Ivan (Rhys Ifans). But old friends aren't necessarily still best friends, and Greenberg soon finds himself spending more and more time with his brother's personal assistant Florence (Greta Gerwig), an aspiring singer and also something of a lost soul. Despite his best attempts not to be drawn in, Greenberg and Florence manage to forge a connection, and Greenberg realizes he may at last have found a reason to be happy.
I'm not Stiller's biggest fan. He usually does this very lame and silly comedies which aren't really my thing and that's what I was expecting from this film. Instead, Greenberg turned out to be something completely different and Stiller's performance was amazing. I hadn't been so surprised by a film in a while. And even thought you will laugh several times, this funny and moving tale is far from being a comedy. In fact, there's a sad and melancholic tone throughout the entire film and it doesn't really light up as many viewers were perhaps hoping for, which for me, made the all experience much better, because, let's face it, life isn't always great and happy endings are rare.
The script is incredibly refreshing, the dialog is brilliant and the direction was absolutely impeccable, really some of the best I've seen lately. The opening shot, for instance is a good example of what I'm talking about and it kinda set the tone for the rest of the film. There's also a lot of conceptual scenes, like Greenbelt trying to swim in the pool, which I love. Granted, the plot could have a little more direction but each scene as random as it may seem is so delightful and rich in subtext that you find yourself not really caring about that. Even the somewhat abrupt ending, which at first disappointed me but now seems completely fitting, shows how this film refuses to follow any conventional formulas.
As I've mentioned before, Stiller was great as the lead character but so was Greta Gerwig as Florence. Much like Greenberg, Florence is this sort of offish, social out-casted girl and Gerwig plays the weird and awkward "vibe" so well it's astonishing. The supporting cast did a good job too with Rhys Ifans standing out. In conclusion, Greenberg is nice little slice of life and one of the best films I've seen this year. And yes, the fact that I related to some of the lead character's anger helped a bit. Definitely worth seeing.
8/10
I'm not Stiller's biggest fan. He usually does this very lame and silly comedies which aren't really my thing and that's what I was expecting from this film. Instead, Greenberg turned out to be something completely different and Stiller's performance was amazing. I hadn't been so surprised by a film in a while. And even thought you will laugh several times, this funny and moving tale is far from being a comedy. In fact, there's a sad and melancholic tone throughout the entire film and it doesn't really light up as many viewers were perhaps hoping for, which for me, made the all experience much better, because, let's face it, life isn't always great and happy endings are rare.
The script is incredibly refreshing, the dialog is brilliant and the direction was absolutely impeccable, really some of the best I've seen lately. The opening shot, for instance is a good example of what I'm talking about and it kinda set the tone for the rest of the film. There's also a lot of conceptual scenes, like Greenbelt trying to swim in the pool, which I love. Granted, the plot could have a little more direction but each scene as random as it may seem is so delightful and rich in subtext that you find yourself not really caring about that. Even the somewhat abrupt ending, which at first disappointed me but now seems completely fitting, shows how this film refuses to follow any conventional formulas.
As I've mentioned before, Stiller was great as the lead character but so was Greta Gerwig as Florence. Much like Greenberg, Florence is this sort of offish, social out-casted girl and Gerwig plays the weird and awkward "vibe" so well it's astonishing. The supporting cast did a good job too with Rhys Ifans standing out. In conclusion, Greenberg is nice little slice of life and one of the best films I've seen this year. And yes, the fact that I related to some of the lead character's anger helped a bit. Definitely worth seeing.
8/10
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Kế Hoạch Đổi Đời
- Filming locations
- Laurel Pet Hospital - 7970 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, California, USA(pet hospital scenes)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $4,234,170
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $118,152
- Mar 21, 2010
- Gross worldwide
- $6,344,112
- Runtime1 hour 47 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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