Greenberg reviewed.

In Greenberg, the writer/director Noah Baumbach attempts the heady, possibly foolish experiment of trying to write a romantic comedy without charm. Philip also mentions to Roger that he’s free to enlist the services of the family’s personal assistant, Florence, a sweet, scattered 25-year-old with vague aspirations to become a singer. Roger’s best friend, Ivan is in the midst of a painful separation from his wife, which Roger callously regards as a good thing—he never liked her, anyway. Should the fact that her character is established early on as sexually insecure and easily talked into bed make us root more or less for Roger and Florence’s future as a couple? Stiller appears more at home, and his character makes more sense, in his scenes with Ifans, a tall, gentle man whose diffident manner provides the perfect foil for Stiller’s perpetually simmering rage.