I really didn't like this movie. I'm not sure how you could with a central character so despicable. Nicole Kidman's Margot is full of hate and so self centered it makes every other character, who are by no means nice, look like saints. I know there are people like this in the world but I don't want to spend 90 minutes of my life watching them in a dark theater. Jeff Daniels' character in The Squid and the Whale (Noah Baumbach's previous film) wasn't even this bad and at least at the end of that movie there was a little glimmer of hope. This film goes nowhere and it just a series of vulgar barbs spouted from character to character. Anytime there seems to be a moment of truth we are taken right back into the vicious circle.
At least Jack Black's character comes out of this a little unscathed. He seems to be the only one who sees the madness in all of this and tries to put it all in perspective. At one point he even says he wants to punch Margot (featured in the trailer) and I was hoping he would. Anything she has said up to that point is far more emotionally scaring than anything he could do to her physically. There is also a subplot featuring the worst neighbors of any film since The 'Burbs. Everything relating to them seems like it is out of a different film.
The one thing I did admire about the film is the way it is photographed. Using hand held cameras and mostly natural light director Baumbach and director of photography Harris Savides create a naturalistic tone that is right for this story.
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