Greenberg
Focus Features | Release Date: March 19, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
76
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews
Positive:
35
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
The wonder of the film is how good it makes us feel. Greenberg scintillates with intelligence, razor's-edge humor and austere empathy for its struggling lovers. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Extraordinary. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Bittersweet and beautifully realized, harsh but humane, Greenberg is a self-consciously small film that nevertheless leaves an indelible mark. Read full review
90
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
It is the funniest and saddest movie Mr. Baumbach has made so far, and also the riskiest. Read full review
90
NPRElla Taylor
Greenberg is on every level the work of a more mature filmmaker, and quite possibly a happier man. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Powerfully honest, insightful and poignant. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
I have a weakness for actresses like Greta Gerwig. She looks reasonable and approachable. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Greenberg, with Stiller's sad and self-mocking portrait at its core, is well worth getting to know. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Baumbach's movies are addictive dispatches from a genteel jungle of white privilege, where highly educated people behave badly. I can't take my eyes off the exotic wildlife. Read full review
80
The New YorkerDavid Denby
This is tricky, ambiguous material, seemingly better fitted to a short literary novel than to a movie, and it could have gone wrong in a hundred ways, yet Baumbach handles it with great assurance. Read full review
80
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Greenberg is a movie of throwaway one-liners and evocatively nondescript locations. The style is observational, the drama is understated, and, when the time comes, it knocks you out with the subtlest of badda-booms. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua Rothkopf
When Stiller indulges in moments of unfulfilled rage, this has real desperation. Read full review
80
EmpireAndrew Male
Like a lot of human relationships Greenberg is complicated, infuriating, good-hearted, funny, often painful, and well worth the effort. A sad little movie but also a great one, lit by two astonishing central performances. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
Going dramatic, Stiller commits to the role completely; there's something rather admirable in his refusal to pander or soft-pedal the self-serious, frankly unlikable Greenberg. Read full review
75
ObserverSara Vilkomerson
Mr. Baumbach has a knack for capturing real-life dialogue--particularly and hilariously how people tend not to listen to the person on the other side of the conversation. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
See this darkly comic character study unburdened by preconceptions. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchJoe Williams
Like "The Squid and the Whale," this character study pushes the definition of comedy to the breaking point, and unlike the far less successful "Margot at the Wedding," it leaves us faintly smiling after the workout. Read full review
75
Orlando SentinelRoger Moore
Baumbach overreaches, making this character a selfish, off-putting cultural (LA) and generational scold. But Stiller, in his most “real” performance in ages, finds the function in this catalog of dysfunctions, the humanity in this humanity-hating crank. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Greenberg is a comedy (a scene in which Roger attends a boisterous college party and pitches a fit over the music is marvelously funny), but it's a sad, rueful comedy about disappointment. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Noah Baumbach makes nature documentaries disguised as indie comedy-dramas. Read full review
75
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
A delicate, if slightly smoggy, feeling of regret hangs over Greenberg, a quietly funny portrait of grown-ups growing up. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
Why would you watch a film about a creep like Greenberg? Well, aside from the fact that it’s well-done and intense and occasionally funny (in a dark, dark way, mind you), there’s the sneaking suspicion that there’s a little of this fellow in all of us, and self-knowledge of that sort is a gift that, often, only art can give. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Jennifer Jason Leigh (Baumbach's wife) appears in two scenes, as an ex-girlfriend of Greenberg, and she's quietly brilliant, as always. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
What saves it, however, is Gerwig. The love story ain’t credible, but her performance is, perfectly capturing a young woman who doesn’t lack confidence so much as a sense of self. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorAndy Klein
Even if you sympathize with his troubles, it’s hard to actually like the guy. At best, he’s uncomfortable to be around; at worst, he’s irritating and even reprehensible. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
While winning no points for originality, Baumbach and his co-conspirator in the script, Jennifer Jason Leigh -- have created an all-too-convincing portrait of a 40-year-old man in emotional freefall. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
As a study of stasis and of people conscious of not living the lives they had imagined for themselves, the picture offers a bracing undertow of seriousness beneath the deceptively casual, dramatically offhand surface. Read full review
70
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
The movie may wear its shagginess on its sleeve, but Stiller knows exactly what he’s doing. Read full review
70
SalonStephanie Zacharek
An unsettling but ultimately joyous little picture, a movie that's as self-conscious as anything Baumbach has ever made, and yet far more open: It reaches out to the world instead of insisting on hugging its own pain, tight. Read full review
70
TimeMary Pols
That Greenberg has merits is undeniable. Gerwig, a funny mix of Kate Winslet and the joyfully ditzy young Diane Keaton, should end up a star. Stiller dials back his own schtick and deserves to be taken seriously. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Greenberg would be a heckuva movie if we could just get Greenberg out of there. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill Goodykoontz
There's no hard-and-fast rule that says you have to like the main character in a movie. It's more a custom, really - a custom that Ben Stiller stretches nearly to the breaking point in Greenberg. Read full review
67
Tampa Bay TimesSteve Persall
Nothing much happens in Greenberg, yet Stiller and co-star Greta Gerwig make inconsequence tolerable with solid performances. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle Smith
To really pull off Greenberg would require a lead performance from a master actor. The actor it stars is . . . Ben Stiller. Read full review
63
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
There's humor there, but this is a "smart" comedy, which is to say it's not intended to make you guffaw. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineRichard Mowe
Although Ben Stiller’s brand of nervy comic ticks can prove irritating on occasions, here he is kept in check so that the humor and the pathos shine through. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesBetsy Sharkey
Any comic relief it affords comes with such an undertow of repressed emotions and displaced anger that it all starts to feel more depressing than dramatic. Read full review
50
SlateDana Stevens
Putting them together was a bold casting move, but as good as they both are in their roles--she (Gerwig) in the flustered, galumphing mode of early Teri Garr, he (Stiller) in the clenched and mumbling one of late Woody Allen--they never quite seem to be sharing the same movie. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Stiller plays a monster, and when Gerwig goes for him, declaring that she sees his tender side, the development seems like a fond indulgence on the part of writer-director Noah Baumbach. Read full review
More From This Movie

76 Critic Reviews

5.5 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL