Roger (Ben Stiller) has just been released from a mental institution after having a nervous breakdown, or something like that, and is going to be staying in L.A. watching his brother’s house for him.  While there he ends up connecting with his old friend Ivan (Rhys Ifans) and sparking a kind of relationship with his brother’s assistant, Florence (Greta Gerwig).

Noah Baumbach, director of films like The Squid and the Whale, returns with this new indie romantic comedy that I can hardly take the time to describe.  The film centres around the character of Roger Greenberg and his many social annoyances with life, especially after getting older and having made some ill thought decisions as a youth.  The oddness of this movie cannot begin to be described by my words, but rather by the reality of how odd life after certain experiences can be.  If I were to sum up the character of Roger in a word it would have to be simply: unlikeable.  There is absolutely nothing about Roger that I can reach in and relate to or commend.

What makes this romantic comedy even more irritable is the character of Florence.  She is the most likeable character in the movie but at the same time I can’t help but be dumbfounded by how she has been treating herself and how she allows Roger to treat her.  She introduces the fact that she’s just gotten out of a long relationship and isn’t looking for anything serious, she even says how she needs to stop doing things just because they feel good, but she continues to want to be around this man who all he does is bicker and go into these tantrums at the stupidest things.  There’s even a moment where Roger has a tantrum because he doesn’t get how this beautiful young girl, Florence, wants to be with him.  It’s one of the oddest relationships I’ve seen on screen and even though I know films lie and not every relationship has be cute and adorable it doesn’t mean I have to enjoy this not cute and not adorable one on screen.

This film is where quirky indie romance comes to die and does it harshly.  It isn’t so much a badly made movie as it is a not very enjoyable story.  Fortunately there is a difference.  With the actors and director involved the movie feels like it’s worth watching but no matter how well shot it is I can’t get behind the unlikeable main character and the story that just repels me away from the television.

In the end if you’re a huge Noah Baumbach fan then maybe you’ll find something that I couldn’t.  Even though I did like The Squid and the Whale I definitely didn’t fall in love with it and therein lies my belief that fans of the director will probably line up to want to slap me silly for my feelings on this film.

IMDB says 6.8/10

Rotten Tomatoes says 73%

I say 3.0/10