Greenberg

My theory that comedians doing serious films is like rock bands doing ballads - i.e. it never fails - has taken its first hit with the Ben Stiller vehicle Greenberg .

Maybe my expectations were a bit too high.

First up, the story. Stiller plays Roger Greenberg, a 40 year old carpenter who has been recently released from a mental home following a nervous breakdown. It's not clear why he had the breakdown. If it was in there it wasn't obvious.

He house sits for his brother and his family when they go to Vietnam for a holiday.

Greenberg doesn't drive, doesn't swim and spends a lot of his time writing letters of complaint to companies he has only moderate experiences with.

(His letter to Starbucks was pretty funny).

He leans on the family's assistant Florence (Greta Gerwig) quite a lot and they strike up a confusing relationship.

I don't know whether it was the script or Stiller's casting or a combination but I left feeling like there was a good movie in there, but it wasn't realised. Stiller didn't look like he was relishing a more serious role but at the same time he wasn't given enough to work with at times. Importantly, Greenberg's mental state wasn't properly addressed, I found it hard to understand why he is how he is.

He tries to reconnect with people from his past, a former flame Beth (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and ex-bandmate Ivan (Rhys Ifans) but winds up alienating them.

I so wanted to like Greenberg a lot more but a severe lack of character development and a really abrupt ending made the job tough. It felt like 10 minutes was cut off at the end.

I can't go higher than 6.5 out of 10. Disappointed.