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Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Two forty-something friends are sitting at a dinner table. They gaze with disdain upon a pair of young couples who are laughing a few tables away. Their bitter observation is as follows.

Ivan Schrank (Rhys Ifans): "Youth is wasted on the young."
Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller): "I'd go further. I'd go: 'Life is wasted on people.'"

When Roger's brother takes his family to Vietnam for a six-week vacation, Roger travels from New York to stay in their Los Angeles home. Fresh out of a mental institution, Roger is listless like a ship on the open sea with no wind to move it along.

Difficult to be with, Roger is lost in a life that could have been more if he had chosen to sign a record deal when he was young. Despite the passage of time, his ex-bandmates have never forgiven him. Even though Ivan hangs out with Roger on occasion, a gulf still exists between them.

Reluctant to start up conversations with new people, which often turn awkward, Roger makes an ill-fated attempt to rekindle an old flame (Jennifer Jason Leigh) while also making a play for his brother's much younger personal assistant, Florence (Greta Gerwig).


An aspiring singer, Florence remains a lost soul and finds herself liking Roger even though he is quick to snap at her with a bitter temper. It's an improbable relationship, but nonetheless a connection forms between them.

In a role he was born to play, Stiller juggles deftly a complexity of dark emotions. It's hard to decide whether to like Roger or punch him in the face. Stiller infuses him with a sense of vulnerability and fear that pulls you in, but then his odd bursts of anger hit you in the face like a punch from Mike Tyson during his prime.

While Stiller headlines what is a smartly written screenplay by director Noah Baumbach (The Squid and The Whale), it's supporting cast is remarkable also. Ifans is equally dark as a man whose soul is still smarting from not getting his big break as a musician and is struggling to salvage a marriage Roger is opposed to. Gerwig is a breakout star in a performance that is as real as it gets. She feels like the girl who lives in apartment C down the hall who has a nice smile for you every time you pass by her.

My recommendation: SEE THIS MOVIE!

On a letter grade scale from A being excellent to F for failing, Greenberg receives a A-.
    
Greenberg is rated R and has a running time of 107 minutes.

Now showing through April 22 @
Tivoli Cinemas
Westport Manor Square, 4050 Pennsylvania, KCMO
Visit www.tivolikc.com or call 913-383-7756 for show times.

Glenwood Arts
9575 Metcalf, Overland Park
Visit www.fineartsgroup.com or call 913-642-4404 for more information.

By Michael D. Smith

Indie Film Editor

Michael D. Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts in history at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri followed by a Master of Arts in history at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Inspired by such critics as Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, Michael started reviewing films in 1992 for College of the Ozarks's student-run newspaper. After returning to the Kansas City area in 1994, he continued film reviewing by writing for the Cass County Democrat Missourian in Harrisonville.

In 2000 Michael joined Sun Publications in Overland Park, Kansas where he served as its film critic and Arts and Entertainment Editor. During his tenure there, he was also the film critic for the "Fine Arts Radio Hour" and "Celebrity Scoop" radio shows on KXTR. After leaving the Sun in late 2002, he became the A&E writer for the Olathe News in Olathe, Kansas. He also worked as a freelance writer for The Squire in Leawood, Showcase Publishing in Lake Ozark, Missouri and the Kansas City Star.

Michael is currently a member of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, a professional film critic organization established in 1966 by the late Dr. James Loutzenhiser.

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