Written by: Noah Baumbach. Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Directed by: Noah Baumbach
"Life is wasted on people."
Greenberg is a character study of 40 year old Roger Greenberg, played by Ben Stiller. Greenberg has just been released from the hospital after a mental breakdown, and his wealthy brother is giving him work around the house while he and his family are out of the country. Greenberg develops....I wouldn't call it romantic but it's definitely some sort of relationship with his brother's assistant, Florence. Greenberg has a whole host of problems: insecure, mean, cruel, insensitive, petty and narcissistic. As the story unfolds, we basically just meet more and more people who's lives have been emotionally fucked by him. The film is a rarity in that it is a comic character study. Greenberg is instantly recognizable, and I think the film was made for people for around the 40 age mark. Frankly, the film didn't really impress me much, I only actually laughed a few times, despite the clever script, and it definitely ranks high on Stiller's mangled career. What's far more interesting is how MY generation is portrayed, and how I feel like towards both the representation of me (upper-middle class white youth in 20s) and towards Greenberg.
Greenberg is already in constant revolt against the youth culture he sees around him. From his letters to starbucks to his bizarre self-loathing attraction to Florence, he feels that somehow his generation has been cheated and that the next generation is entirely unworthy of their youth. When a party of 20s somethings begins at his house (he has no control over it, it is imposed on him), he rants against my generation while sharing the one self-destructive habit that has come "back": Coke. "You young people are mean" Greenberg says, explaining that they are way too well adjusted and properly raised, which makes them means, smart and dangerous. He admits to them that he is somewhat afraid of them, and he hopes to never be at their mercy at a job interview. The best part of this whole scene is the fact that the kids surrounding at him are laughing. In fact, they seemingly enjoy being attacked, which of course defeats the entire purpose. The last generation had illusions of some sort of purpose: stop the war if you remember the 70s, survive the 80s or whatever. And when their parents attacked them, told them they are useless, told them to cut to their hair or tuck in the shirt, the answer was hostility. Fuck you! I won't cut my hair! in fact I'll never wash it, and I'll smoke pot, and I'll read Marx! This generation, my generation, in the age of constant streaming experience with no end and no beginning, make no such claim. They claim nothing, declare they're own emptiness and consume their own futility. Just as postmodernism declares the end of artistic originality and original experience, hence the postmodern generation declares the end of meaning of youth. You can't insult them, tell them their useless, tell them they are wasting their lives, because they'd simply agree with you and bike away on their fucking cruisers.
I can't deny that I am ultimately part of this generation. Yet, I feel more affinity with Greenberg's words (not the the character) then I do the nauseatingly apathetic youth on screen. It's worth noting here that Greenberg, despite a hip look and even hipper script, didn't do very well commercially. Why? Usually, my narcissistic generation loves representations of them, hostile or not. I think it's because Greenberg is an ugly reflection, not a caricature or an insult, but a true reflection of someone trying to remain young and never growing up. The last line of the film says it all "This is you". And upon hearing that, I am struck with a sad though: What legacy will my generation leave? American Apparel and starbucks? Is there anything more depressing in the world than that?
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