Master of family dramas and yuppie angst, undercut by pithy moments of humor, the films of Noah Baumbach both valorize and poke fun at the Gen X and millennial mindsets when it comes to careers and relationships. A frequent collaborator with director, screenwriter, and actress Greta Gerwig (Frances Ha, Mistress America, Greenberg), Baumbach has become a master of family dramas and deadpan dialogue. Here’s a ranking of his ten feature films, from worst to best.
11. Kicking and Screaming (1995)
Baumbach’s tenderly funny but clumsy film debut about a group of new college graduates foretells many of the themes his later works deal with: coming-of-age, family ties, friendship, and youthful aimlessness. Grover (Josh Hamilton) is mourning the end of his relationship with Jane (Olivia d’Abo), a quirky and talented writer who’s relocated to Prague, while his friends Max (Chris Eigeman), Skippy (Jason Wiles), and Otis (Carlos Jacott), are equally content to do nothing post-graduation. Though it suffers from uneven pacing and dated humor, Kicking and Screaming is still a candid evaluation of the panicky aimlessness common to one’s early twenties.
10. Margot at the Wedding (2007)
In this family drama, emotionally unstable writer Margot (Nicole Kidman) visits her formerly estranged sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh) to attend her wedding to the feckless Malcolm (a brilliant Jack Black). As the sisters compete for authority in Pauline’s household, and Margot’s meddlesome nature threatens to upend the wedding plans, Baumbach highlights the ways in which ragged family relationships, wrought by poor parenting and lousy childhoods, can reach their breaking points, even at occasions that are supposed to be joyful. Though Margot and Pauline’s late father’s abuse is glossed over, the sisters are unable to escape the cycle of bitterness, jealousy, and suspicion that can easily evolve from such drastic circumstances. The film suffers from a loose to nonexistent plot, but the paper-thin premise is saved by the performances of Margot and Pauline’s respective children, Claude (Zane Pais), and Ingrid (Flora Cross), who bear witness to their mothers’ emotional manipulations and pseudo-reconciliation. As with Greenberg, Margot at the Wedding at times indulges in a kind of pointless misanthropy that makes for uneven viewing, but it’s still a valuable addition to Baumbach’s oeuvre.
9. Mr. Jealousy (1997)
Struggling writer Lester Grimm (Eric Stoltz) becomes insanely jealous of his kooky new girlfriend, Ramona Ray (Annabella Sciorra), and her numerous previous boyfriends –– particularly her self-absorbed ex, Dashiell Frank (Chris Eigeman), a bestselling author. In a particularly bad bout of neuroses and insecurity, Lester decides to infiltrate Dashiell’s therapy group under an assumed name, and is both gratified and horrified as they forge a combative friendship. The film makes generous use of the therapy setting as a source of humor and ridicule, and approaches comedic heights as Lester ropes his circle of acquaintances into his plan –– with the exception of an oblivious Ramona –– thereby indulging his most jealous suspicions. As his motivations come to light, Lester confronts the unfortunate after-effects of his paranoia and jealousy, and finally learns to let go of his insecurities. Despite its improbable premise, Mr. Jealousy sees Baumbach hitting his comedic and directorial stride, as he investigates a Shakesperean series of misunderstandings among his classically self-absorbed characters. Mr. Jealousy is New York humor at its finest: neuroses paired with self-parody.
8. Greenberg (2010)
Critics had mixed feelings about this romantic comedy about an improbable match between an aging, neurotic would-be musician (Ben Stiller) and a housesitter-slash-L.A.-version-of-Holly Golightly (Greta Gerwig). But whatever you think about the couple’s suitability, Greenberg is still a sharp and accurate portrayal of how selfishness, fear of emotional intimacy, and unrealistic expectations can ward off the possibility of love and friendship. Luckily, Gerwig’s character offers Stiller’s failed musician a form of redemption. However, their cautious relationship manages to escape the manic pixie dream girl dynamic, as neither individual ends up with artistic success by the end of the film. Arguably, they find something more substantive, though Greenberg‘s misanthropic sensibility and almost irredeemable main character may have determined its unfortunate box-office fate.
7. White Noise (2022)
In White Noise, Baumbach’s ambitious adaptation of Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel, Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig star as Jack and Babette Gladney, an academic couple raising a blended family in middle America. When a mysterious « airborne toxic event » derails their hard-won domestic stability, the couple grow apart. Jack is unable to confront the possibility of his impending death, while Babette becomes increasingly paranoid about her own mortality. Part disaster film, part surreal American epic, White Noise suffers from clumsy transitions and an awkward length, both of which have rubbed critics the wrong way. Though Driver’s performance as the neurotic Jack –– an expert in « Hitler studies » and a loving, if distracted, father –– is stellar, Baumbach’s directorial uncertainty overshadows the film’s strong performances and satirical examination of what it means to be American.
6. While We’re Young (2014)
A happily married middle-aged couple, Josh and Cornelia Srebnick (Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts), becomes infatuated with a pair of hipster millennials, Jamie and Darby Massey (Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried). Flattered by the attentions of Jamie –– a tactical arriviste hoping for access to Cornelia’s father, a famed documentary filmmaker –– Josh and Cornelia initially fail to recognize the young man’s narcissism and transactional nature until it’s almost too late. Josh mistakes Jamie’s enthusiasm for sincerity, and is later outraged by his blatant fabrications, while Cornelia feels embarrassed for going along with it. As usual, the film is replete with funny meditations on the burdens of family relationships and the struggle for artistic relevance in middle age, but it’s also a humorous portrayal of the Gen X-millennial generation gap. The older, established couple eventually rejects the younger couple’s ceaseless social climbing, but not without some bumps along the way. However, at the end, they conclude that Jamie « isn’t evil, he’s just young. »
5. Marriage Story (2019)
Another of Baumbach’s bitterly comedic meditations on a family split-up, Marriage Story received acclaim for its depiction of how the legal system pits divorcing couples against each other even when they’re trying to keep things amicable. Though in many ways a modern incarnation of its more potent 1970s predecessor, Kramer vs. Kramer, Marriage Story contains worthwhile observations on the pitfalls of artistic genius –– emphasized by Adam Driver’s performance as Charlie, a self-absorbed director; and his soon-to-be ex-wife, budding television actress Nicole (Scarlett Johansson), who has been longing for her own slice of success. The couple’s resentments and frustrations play out bitterly in the divorce proceedings, when each must stake their claim to their young son, Henry (Azhy Robertson). As the characters’ parenting styles are questioned by their respective lawyers in a cruel courtroom battle, the film makes incisive observations on the burdensome and often gendered expectations that come with parenting, as well as the convoluted nature of divorce proceedings. As Nicole’s lawyer (Laura Dern, in an Oscar-winning performance) shrewdly claims, « Fatherhood was only invented thirty years ago. »
4. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017)
Baumbach cannily juggles parallel family narratives in this bittersweet comedy about parenting. In the film, the Meyerowitzes are forced to reunite due to the failing health of their aging, irascible artist father (Dustin Hoffman). The product of his tumultuous earlier marriages, the three middle-aged siblings –- played by Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, and Elizabeth Marvel –– come to terms with competing memories of their selfish and overbearing paternal figure and the chaos he’s wrought over the decades. But despite their shared bitterness, they’re able to maintain a sense of levity, amplified by the presence of their eccentric stepmother (a brilliant Emma Thompson). As with The Squid and the Whale, The Meyerowitz Stories examines the long-term effects of parental narcissism, and the ways in which artistic genius and ego can dwarf and distort family relationships. Each sibling is forced to consider the merits of their father’s alleged genius and its comically prosaic reality. Their reliance on family myths to render his parenting acceptable becomes increasingly heartbreaking, even amid Baumbach’s trademark side-splitting one-liners. « I have to believe that [Dad] was talented, » Ben Stiller’s character memorably says, « Because otherwise he was just a prick. »
3. Mistress America (2015)
Lonely college student Tracy (Lola Kirke) is skeptical when she learns that her father is remarrying, but she’s soon placated by the presence of her would-be stepsister, Brooke (a charismatic Greta Gerwig). The pair’s misadventures around New York come to a hilt when Brooke becomes fixated on the idea of starting her own restaurant business named for her late mother. Featuring Baumbach’s signature snappy dialogue and a comic, understated performance by Gerwig, Mistress America is an endearing portrayal of a female friendship and mentorship gone slightly awry. The juxtaposition of Tracy’s collegiate precociousness with Brooke’s late-twenties ennui allows us to sympathize with both age groups. And though both characters suffer from bouts of self-involvement, Baumbach’s satirical flare and Gerwig’s instinctive warmth as a performer save it from becoming a mere study in youthful confusion and narcissism.
2. The Squid and the Whale (2005)
Baumbach’s autobiographical sleeper hit features a young Jesse Eisenberg as Walt Berkman, a watchful teenager whose parents, Bernard (Jeff Daniels) and Joan (Laura Linney), undergo a bitter divorce in 1980s Brooklyn. Walt sides with his father in the split, while his younger brother, Frank (Owen Kline), grows closer to their mother. However, the brothers gradually become disillusioned with their parents’ behavior –– particularly that of their father, Bernard, who brings home an impressionable undergraduate, Lili (Anna Paquin), to live with him. Their parents’ split comes to mark the onset of adulthood, an eventuality against which both Walt and Frank, though polar opposites, struggle. More than being a coming-of-age story, though, The Squid and the Whale is a potent and tender examination of the destabilizing nature of divorce. Baumbach’s decision to explore Bernard and Joan’s separation through the eyes of his adolescent characters allows viewers to experience the infantilizing and ego-driven nature of the couple’s marital conflicts. Our sympathies shift towards their children, whose limited understanding of the situation nevertheless reveals Bernard and Joan’s surprising blind spots and emotional immaturity. Ultimately, The Squid and the Whale is an acerbic commentary on and critique of adult self-absorption.
1. Frances Ha (2012)
Guileless twenty-something Frances Halliday (Greta Gerwig) is trying to establish herself in Brooklyn, but fears losing her best friend Sophie (Mickey Sumner), who reveals she’s become engaged and is relocating to swankier digs in Tribeca. As Frances attempts to forge a dance career –– all while dealing with eccentric roommates, dead-end jobs, and awkward dinner parties –– viewers are privy to the very real struggle of trying to make it in New York. This dilemma is beautifully portrayed by the film’s black-and-white cinematography, while the simple premise and meandering dialogue highlight the characters’ self-aware millennial immaturity. And though Baumbach’s signature deadpan humor and subtle social satire are at their finest here, it’s Gerwig’s unaffected and utterly naturalistic performance that allows Frances Ha to transcend the « neurotic New Yorker » genre and evolve into a beautiful and profound take on female friendship and coming-of-age. Frances Ha is both a crowd pleaser and an earnest, honest piece of filmmaking.
