Tuesday’s Top Trailer: Greenberg

Welcome to a new weekly feature here at Movies with Abe, Tuesday's Top Trailer. One of my favorite parts about going to see movies is the series of trailers that airs beforehand and, more often than not, the trailer is far better than the actual film. Each week, I'll be sharing a trailer I've recently seen. Please chime in with comments on what you think of the trailer and how you think the movie is going to be.

Greenberg – Opening March 26, 2010



This week’s top trailer is the newest film from Noah Baumbach, writer and director of the excellent “Squid and the Whale.” While I didn’t love Baumbach’s follow-up effort “Margot at the Wedding,” Baumbach did work on the script for “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” which turned out to be pretty great. His latest project looks to be reincorporating some of the dark comedic elements that “Margot” was missing which made “Squid” so great. Ben Stiller looks to be at his serious best, and he’s joined by a strong cast that includes Greta Gerwig (“House of the Devil”), Rhys Ifans (“Notting Hill,” “Pirate Radio”), and Jennifer Jason Leigh (“Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “Margot at the Wedding). I’ve been hearing about this film for a while now, and the trailer makes me feel good about it now that it’s only a couple of weeks down the road. My favorite moment is definitely when an embarrassed Greenberg (Stiller) asks the doctor whether he can catch the disease with which his dog has become infected. The idea of being “happy doing nothing” and everyone telling him that it’s brave for him to be doing that at his age and stage in life is appealing as the central storyline for a film, and positing different actresses as the multiple women in his life should make for good sounding boards and conversations for Greenberg. Rhys Ifans as the best friend also seems like a particularly fun fit. Everyone seems plenty subdued in this film, but that’s probably not a bad thing. As long as the balance of comedy and drama is right, and it looks like it’s probably heavy on the deadpan former, than this film should be a delightful success. What do you think?