Greenberg (2010)

Why So Serious? Ben Stiller returns to multiplexes this Friday in Greenberg. The funnyman is under the watchful eye of Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale, Margot at the Wedding), so it's no surprise that this one isn't a broad comedy.

Expect a quieter, slow-burn character piece, with Stiller as Roger Greenberg, a neurotic forty-something who decides to spent some time "trying to do nothing for a while". The only thing looking likely to free him from his stagnant life is the relationship slowly developing with his brother's assistant (Greta Gerwig).

Stiller said of the character: "I really felt an empathy for the guy and I've actually never had that experience before on a movie, where I ended up feeling connected to a character as a real person".

If they played it for laughs... Greenberg would have a permanent pout, talk in a funny voice, sport a dodgy wig and go around complaining that "I'm pretty sure there's a lot more to life than being really, really, ridiculously depressed".

See also: The Royal Tenenbaums (kinda...)