For just a moment, based on these trailers, consider something for me. First up: Noah Baumbach’s upcoming Greenberg…
…and the upcoming Wonderful World, starring Matthew Broderick…
Are these two movies not, in actuality, the same movie?
Or are they thematic sequels to something like Garden State? If so, then… Thanks, but no thanks.
Is Ben Stiller in Greenberg not grasping the arrogant douchebaggery of what used to be called slacker in young males, young males who then grew up into “aging hipsters,” who accomplish nothing but looking at other things and thinking things about them (kind of like bloggers, I know)? And then there’s Wonderful World, in which Matthew Broderick seems to be… well, ticking off every other box the young urban white male who’s seemingly not a Republican seems to fall into. Are these men who choose to do nothing and be nothing (or, at least, nothing interesting) because nothing has chosen them? Or because something chose them/they once chose something, but it was too hard? Is that it? And now they live in the place where a once charming recluse falls into a consistent routine, no, a life of misanthropy and misunderstanding and being a hermit.
Sometimes lack of ambition doesn’t just mean a sense of fatigue. Maybe, rather than being tired, and having a lot on your mind, you’re just not talented and scared and weak. You better reject everything before it rejects you!
But, in these guys’ case, of course there’s a beautiful young woman to pull them out of their funk who gets them to change their way of thinking. Of course.
In Stiller’s case, it’s the Queen of the Indie cinema, Greta Gerwig, who looks like a product of scientists trying to create an MPDG/Amazing Girl super(cute)beast. And for Broderick, it’s Sanaa Lathan. I’m sure we’re guaranteed some awkward romantic encounters! Honestly, I’d rather just watch a movie about these women’s characters. They sound vastly more interesting.
I’m not suggesting that anyone should subscribe to a life of constantly being a caregiver or bring some middle aged loser like Ben Stiller or Ferris Bueller out of their haze, but at least these ladies are doing something. Something is better than nothing, right?
Life is wasted on people.
Wonderful World looks like a cross between Stranger than Fiction, The Visitor and heaping piles of suck.
Greenberg may or may not be promising. It’s Noah Baumbach, so I’d be willing to watch it and see. It does have a strong whiff of Manic Pixie Dream Girl to it, but Stiller actually looks somewhat self-aware of his age there, so it could be interesting. I suppose a movie about an overgrown hipster hitting his 40s and becoming aware of his wasted life might be decent in the hands of a good writer.
This just highlights what Marco and I were talking about during the Oscars: our current generation of stars is getting old. Due to changes in culture and anti-aging procedures that didn’t used to exist, the big name celebrities are hanging around well into their 40s and 50s while still playing it young. Modern popular culture is more fragmented thanks to new media, and younger celebrities have become much more disposable.
I mean, fuck, Shia LeBeowolf is shaping up to be the actor of his generation. No, seriously. Think about that. Name a rock band that’s bigger today than any 2-hit wonder from the 80s. We might be generating new reality TV contestants and sex-tape participants, but the Star is dying. And meanwhile, all the aging actors, much like their baby-boomer brethren, are refusing to let go. Interesting to see Stiller actually acknowledge it in a film.
I mean, at what point do Cruise, Damon, Depp, etc. stop dying their hair and play the grandfather?