Noah Baumbach’s latest gets us hooked from the start — by simply following around the character of Florence doing her daily routine.  During the opening credits the camera lingers on her face as she’s driving.  We are watching Baumbach fall in love with the talents of his young star Greta Gerwig (also my new cinematic crush).  This is her first major movie role (outside of her status as Mumblecore star).  And she brings something new to the table.  She displays a mix of sweetness, sincerity and awkwardness that I’ve never seen before.  You believe that she would fall for a bastard like Roger Greenberg (Ben Stiller) because she sees that he’s fragile.

Roger is actually the real focus here.  He is another one of Baumbach’s hellish creations in the mold of Bernard Berkman (Jeff Daniels) in The Squid and the Whale and the title character (Nicole Kidman) in Margot at the Wedding.  They are self-absorbed to the point of self-destruction.  Greenberg may be his most terminal case yet,

This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2010.