Instant Favorite.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

This is not what I would call a movie. This is a "fly-on-the-wall" experience of seeing Ben Stiller show his acting chops as a slightly mentally ill person. Although his neuroses or psychoses or God-knows-what-kind-of-problem-it- was seemed to be very real, ultimately, I didn't care. He was a pathetic, sad f'd-up person who needed psychiatric help and drugs to stabilize him. Instead, this is what happens: His rich brother, wife and family take off for a vacation in Vietnam. Why Vietnam is never explained. Greta Gerwig is their put-upon assistant. For reasons that are unclear, rich brother is allowing nutcase brother to stay at his house in L.A. while he's in Vietnam. This doesn't make any sense at all. He and wife know that Ben has had a "breakdown" -- did they for one second give any thought to what his needs might be? In other words, did they think it would be okay to let him roam around their huge house by himself? Did they somehow think that Greta would tend to all his needs? This was a device that allowed Ben and Greta to meet, but it did not seem organic or believable. Then, because Greta is at some vulnerable point in her life, she easily slips into some kind of sex/love relationship with Ben, who is CLEARLY a nutcase. It does not make any sense why this woman would continue to subject herself to experiences in which Ben is cruel, insulting, degrading and otherwise deranged. Were we also supposed to feel sorry for her? Greta has a very real, honest quality about her; that cannot be denied. She seems like a real human being and she seemed authentic. But she obviously is aware that Ben is nuts and yet... she's willing to risk possible danger to be involved with him. I just didn't buy it. Not after only knowing him a week. The movie ambles about, from one improvised scene to the next. There are occasional moments that are hysterically funny, and they are organic, and that's the best thing that can be said. But as to why these people thought this was a movie worth making is beyond me. It is not "enjoyable." You will not come away feeling "good." You will have a sad, sour taste in your mouth and be shaking your head at the end. And the "ending" -- what a joke! What a let-down! What a half-assed way to get out of this mess. Ben Stiller either IS this person, or is very good at portraying a mentally ill person who desperately needs to be medicated. Either way... why is this something you'd want to watch? IF he had learned something, IF he had grown and accepted his stupid, cruel actions (which he clearly does not in his pathetic attempt to apologize to Greta), and if he showed some signs that he was making the effort to improve, I might have given this movie a thumbs up. Since he stays essentially the same, as does Greta, I cannot. Yes, there are great moments from the supporting cast, and yes, most people have "been there" -- trying to go back into their past and fix things. In THIS way, the movie does have a few minutes of value, reminding us very clearly that we cannot go home again. But other than that, this was a very depressing, upsetting and unsettling film that I cannot recommend to anyone.

I bought the Blue Ray release of this movie without really reading the notes. I only bought it because Ben STill was in it. It was what I would call, "Okay'. It's not a comedy, although it does a couple of funny moments, and it's not a romantic type film even though there are people getting together. They get together more out of some kind of loneliness rather than interest in each other. Everyone in is awkward in this film. I don't think there is one conversation were people seem to like each other. Even when he's in the car with the two girls and thinking of going to Australia, it's awkward. The two girls never really talk to him, they SAY something, then laugh with each other. The movie should have been titled 'Wow, this is awkward.' As for the plot, there really isn't one. There's kind of a story but it never goes anywhere. Of course there are a few interesting scenes. Most noticeably where Greta Gerwig's character has to be topless. And you know it's one of these typical movies where this happens only because the director / producer had to write it in so they could see the actress topless. And yes, that does happen all the time under the guise of 'the scene' or 'the character'. But based on Gerwig's appearance in the scene in her apartment, some ice cubes were strategically placed prior to shooting just for titillation reasons. But that's Hollywood for ya! All in all I'm glad I watched it, as I appreciate all movies, but won't see it again.

The passionate antipathy that this movie has generated (see it's many one star reviews here, such as the person who removed the DVD after one hour, broke the DVD in half, then decided it was necessary to break it into fourths....) tells you that there is something to this movie. I always find it strange when people are so affected by a work of art as to have their passions inflamed by it and then they say it is crap....GREENBERG is a musing, contemplative character study that follows the life of Ben Stiller's 40ish post break down bachelor guy who has flown out to California to stay in his brother's empty house for a while and work at "doing nothing".A lot of people won't like this movie because it is like real life. A lot of people won't like this movie because it is not plot driven. Some people will just find the Greenberg character too irritating, but those should be able to notice that it is a pretty good movie even if they don't like it.And for the rest, however much a minority they may be, this movie has a lot to offer. Remarkable acting, several genuinely memorable scenes, and a canvas that encourages one's mind to explore deeper questions about contemporary life, humanity, and our often dysfunctional relationships.

I have just wasted 100 minutes of my life watching this movie. It is about a dysfunctional man who meets a dysfunctional woman and they have a dysfunctional relationship. For some reason, the story seems to revolve around a sick dog (who plays the best part in the movie) It is a sad, slow and boring movie made up of a series of montages that do not gel together. The movie ended and I am still wondering what it was all about. It showed the worst of society; drugs, abortion, abuse and I learned nothing from it. Trouble is that Ben Stiller is a good comedic actor and the movie is billed as a comedy. What we got was far short of that. The only good thing about all this, is that it aired on TV and I didn't have to pay for it. I will rate the movie 3, but that's just for the dog.