Most of the reviews that I have read thus far were negative, or a bit overly kind. The low rating is likely due to people going out for a light story, expecting to see a disaster action flick or end of the world comedy. This is essentially a reflection on mans fear of his own mortality, or perhaps more specifically on a certain subcultures fixation on their own impending end. If you take the movie as a series of reflections on that idea, and most of the characters as representations of certain personality types, perspectives and ideologies, then it all makes a lot of sense. And, it is pretty damn (darkly) funny as well. Enjoy.
466 Reviews
An interesting failure, but a failure nonetheless
Lockout_Salties22 December 2022
White Noise is, undoubtedly, the strangest movie Netflix has released this year, which is saying a lot given the competition. The plot is all over the place, the dialogue very stylized, and the overall atmosphere is engaging but off-putting. It's the type of movie that is sure to cause a lot of division in audiences.
At its core, White Noise is about a college professor named Jack and his middle class family dealing with their fear of death, but what actually happens is quite complicated. So complicated, in fact, that it feels like three separate movies smashed together. To be fair, the novel is just as ungainly and incoherent, but at least you had the sense that you were the one with the problem. There was a mystique to DeLillo's writing that made it seem like there was a lot going on thematically with the strange choices. But in the movie? It just seems like bad, pretentious writing. I'm not even sure if Baumbach knew what DeLillo's aim was, or if he just guessed.
One symptom of this is that the unnatural dialogue stick out like a sore thumb: in a scene where Jack's wife, Babette, says how open she is with communicating her feelings, Driver says "That is the point of Babette." In another moment, Jack is shopping with his coworker when said coworker suddenly says that Jack's wife's "hair looks important." What is the point of lines like this? Because all it accomplishes is taking you out of the moment and reminding you that you're watching a movie with a script. Not to mention the multiple long, unintelligible "philosophical" monologues that occasionally pop up. Is it an intentional commentary on the hollowness of academia? If so, then why are they presented so uncritically and played dead straight? It's just another disjointed element of the movie that seems unfinished.
But even if the script fails them, the cast and tech crew don't give up on trying. Driver and Gerwig give very different performances, the former acting almost like an intentional caricature of a sitcom dad, and the latter trying to be serious the whole time. And yet it's one of the few disparate combinations in the film that actually pays off: their acting is convincing as a real couple. Gerwig, in particular, brings emotion to scenes that were completely absent of it on the page. The production design and score are also on point, creating a distinct and interesting atmosphere that also furthers the film's supposed social commentary. But none of this is quite enough to save White Noise from itself and its shortcomings.
The best part of the film is far and away the end credits. I'm not saying that as some sort of flippant joke about the movie's quality, it's a genuinely incredible sequence. Somehow it captures the exact type of weirdness and existentialism and fun that's absent from the rest of the movie. It's so good that, in all honesty, you could probably skip the rest of the movie for it. White Noise is consistently watchable and unique, unlike anything else you'll see this year. But it's aimless, confused, and ultimately baffling to make any significant impact.
Final Score: 62/100.
At its core, White Noise is about a college professor named Jack and his middle class family dealing with their fear of death, but what actually happens is quite complicated. So complicated, in fact, that it feels like three separate movies smashed together. To be fair, the novel is just as ungainly and incoherent, but at least you had the sense that you were the one with the problem. There was a mystique to DeLillo's writing that made it seem like there was a lot going on thematically with the strange choices. But in the movie? It just seems like bad, pretentious writing. I'm not even sure if Baumbach knew what DeLillo's aim was, or if he just guessed.
One symptom of this is that the unnatural dialogue stick out like a sore thumb: in a scene where Jack's wife, Babette, says how open she is with communicating her feelings, Driver says "That is the point of Babette." In another moment, Jack is shopping with his coworker when said coworker suddenly says that Jack's wife's "hair looks important." What is the point of lines like this? Because all it accomplishes is taking you out of the moment and reminding you that you're watching a movie with a script. Not to mention the multiple long, unintelligible "philosophical" monologues that occasionally pop up. Is it an intentional commentary on the hollowness of academia? If so, then why are they presented so uncritically and played dead straight? It's just another disjointed element of the movie that seems unfinished.
But even if the script fails them, the cast and tech crew don't give up on trying. Driver and Gerwig give very different performances, the former acting almost like an intentional caricature of a sitcom dad, and the latter trying to be serious the whole time. And yet it's one of the few disparate combinations in the film that actually pays off: their acting is convincing as a real couple. Gerwig, in particular, brings emotion to scenes that were completely absent of it on the page. The production design and score are also on point, creating a distinct and interesting atmosphere that also furthers the film's supposed social commentary. But none of this is quite enough to save White Noise from itself and its shortcomings.
The best part of the film is far and away the end credits. I'm not saying that as some sort of flippant joke about the movie's quality, it's a genuinely incredible sequence. Somehow it captures the exact type of weirdness and existentialism and fun that's absent from the rest of the movie. It's so good that, in all honesty, you could probably skip the rest of the movie for it. White Noise is consistently watchable and unique, unlike anything else you'll see this year. But it's aimless, confused, and ultimately baffling to make any significant impact.
Final Score: 62/100.
The parts don't cohere into a whole that works
rdoyle2914 December 2022
It's funny when you encounter a film with so many likeable elements that simply never cohere into something that works. This film reminded me of "I Heart Huckabees" in that sense ... I enjoyed all the parts considered in isolation, but the film itself is decidedly less than the sum of it's parts.
The film is divided into three acts. We're introduced to star professor of Hitler Studies Adam Driver and his wife Greta Gerwig and their children (almost all from different spouses) in the first act, which gestures at parodying academia without really landing much.
In the middle act, a train crash causes the Airborne Toxic Event ... a cloud of poisonous chemicals that descends on town and causes the family to evacuate. This is the most successful part of the film, impressively staging the event like a darkly comedic disaster film.
The final act is ... a lot less clear and probably best not spoiled. It deals with our need to distract ourselves from the terrors of life with medicine and consumerism. It descends into talky meandering and is really only saved by a magnificent musical number over the end credits.
There's really a lot to like. I found it to be intermittently quite funny. The performances are great, especially Don Cheadle as a fellow professor trying to establish a specialization in Elvis Studies. It's a hugely ambitious film with a unique visual style. I only wish I could say I actually liked it.
The film is divided into three acts. We're introduced to star professor of Hitler Studies Adam Driver and his wife Greta Gerwig and their children (almost all from different spouses) in the first act, which gestures at parodying academia without really landing much.
In the middle act, a train crash causes the Airborne Toxic Event ... a cloud of poisonous chemicals that descends on town and causes the family to evacuate. This is the most successful part of the film, impressively staging the event like a darkly comedic disaster film.
The final act is ... a lot less clear and probably best not spoiled. It deals with our need to distract ourselves from the terrors of life with medicine and consumerism. It descends into talky meandering and is really only saved by a magnificent musical number over the end credits.
There's really a lot to like. I found it to be intermittently quite funny. The performances are great, especially Don Cheadle as a fellow professor trying to establish a specialization in Elvis Studies. It's a hugely ambitious film with a unique visual style. I only wish I could say I actually liked it.
All Over The Place
loganschainker30 December 2022
For the first hour of White Noise, I found myself very entertained. But for the second half I found myself incredibly bored. They felt like two separate films. If the first half had just been the whole film. I probably would have have given this film an 8. Or possibly a 9. It goes from being an apocalyptic family satire, to a revenge tale. I believe Noah Baumbach didn't even know what exactly he was going for. White Noise was average. The two aspects holding me back from giving it a 4 are again the first half and another stellar performance from Adam Driver. Nowhere near as good as Marriage Story. Then again they are very different films.
DeLillo's novel hits the big screen
ferguson-61 December 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Greetings again from the darkness. Writer-director Noah Baumbach's latest film is one of those that causes us to feel a bit guilty at not finding it as important or noble as it finds itself. That's not meant to be as critical as it sounds. Afterall, Baumbach is the one who has managed to bring the "unfilmable" ... Don DeLillo's 1985 novel (National Book Award for fiction) ... to the big screen. Baumbach's last film was MARRIAGE STORY (2019), a masterpiece on relationships, and while this current film is a more ambitious undertaking, it likely will prove less accessible to many viewers.
Adam Driver stars as Jack Gladney, a professor at a (fictitious) midwestern college, who has reached celebrity status through his Hitler studies curriculum - although he remains uneasy at his own inability to speak German. Jack's own home life teeters on bedlam most every day. He and his wife Babbette (Greta Gerwig, director Baumbach's real life spouse) are both on their fourth marriage, and their blended family of kids results in tension and more overlapping dialogue than one would find in a filled sports arena. Babbette is showing signs of early onset dementia, and is regularly and secretly taking a drug called Dylar. Of course, it's the 1980's and Google hasn't been born, so Jack and Babbette's daughter Denise (Raffey Cassidy) find themselves scouring books and asking doctors about the mysterious drug.
There are some amazing lines (most taken straight from DeLillo's novel) throughout the film, and Act 1 features a stunning rap-battle type lecture with Jack and his colleague Murray Suskind (Don Cheadle) taking on Elvis versus Hitler and their relationships with their respective mothers. It's filmed like a boxing match and most of the students seem oblivious to this treat. Act 2 is labeled "The Airborne Toxic Event" and it's a fiery tanker car (filled with toxic waste) explosion that marks the transition. A mass evacuation takes the family to Camp Daffodil for 9 days, and Jack's limited exposure to the toxic air places him in peril and leads to Act 3 where the fear of death merges with the discovery of Babbette's Dylar source. The question then becomes, will Jack first die or commit murder ... because, as we are told, men are killers.
Jack's son is aptly named Heinrich and is played by Sam Nivola (the son of Alessandro Nivola and Emily Mortimer). Baumbach is an intellect obsessed with neurotic intellectual characters, and he thrives at blurring the line between satire and societal commentary ... which is obviously why he was drawn to DeLillo's novel. The film is often chaotic, and is an odd blend of science fiction teasing the end of our world, the price of consumerism, and existential contemplation reflecting our fear of death. Especially effective are the Production Design of Jess Gonchor and the work of composer Danny Elfman. Perhaps there could be no better ending than the dance number in the vitally important local grocery store that continues through the closing credits. The film is funny, frightening, and a bit of a downer that offers more questions than answers - an adaptation that serves the novel.
Opening in theaters on December 2, 2022.
Adam Driver stars as Jack Gladney, a professor at a (fictitious) midwestern college, who has reached celebrity status through his Hitler studies curriculum - although he remains uneasy at his own inability to speak German. Jack's own home life teeters on bedlam most every day. He and his wife Babbette (Greta Gerwig, director Baumbach's real life spouse) are both on their fourth marriage, and their blended family of kids results in tension and more overlapping dialogue than one would find in a filled sports arena. Babbette is showing signs of early onset dementia, and is regularly and secretly taking a drug called Dylar. Of course, it's the 1980's and Google hasn't been born, so Jack and Babbette's daughter Denise (Raffey Cassidy) find themselves scouring books and asking doctors about the mysterious drug.
There are some amazing lines (most taken straight from DeLillo's novel) throughout the film, and Act 1 features a stunning rap-battle type lecture with Jack and his colleague Murray Suskind (Don Cheadle) taking on Elvis versus Hitler and their relationships with their respective mothers. It's filmed like a boxing match and most of the students seem oblivious to this treat. Act 2 is labeled "The Airborne Toxic Event" and it's a fiery tanker car (filled with toxic waste) explosion that marks the transition. A mass evacuation takes the family to Camp Daffodil for 9 days, and Jack's limited exposure to the toxic air places him in peril and leads to Act 3 where the fear of death merges with the discovery of Babbette's Dylar source. The question then becomes, will Jack first die or commit murder ... because, as we are told, men are killers.
Jack's son is aptly named Heinrich and is played by Sam Nivola (the son of Alessandro Nivola and Emily Mortimer). Baumbach is an intellect obsessed with neurotic intellectual characters, and he thrives at blurring the line between satire and societal commentary ... which is obviously why he was drawn to DeLillo's novel. The film is often chaotic, and is an odd blend of science fiction teasing the end of our world, the price of consumerism, and existential contemplation reflecting our fear of death. Especially effective are the Production Design of Jess Gonchor and the work of composer Danny Elfman. Perhaps there could be no better ending than the dance number in the vitally important local grocery store that continues through the closing credits. The film is funny, frightening, and a bit of a downer that offers more questions than answers - an adaptation that serves the novel.
Opening in theaters on December 2, 2022.
ignore the white noise
exlana30 December 2022
I don't know how to describe this film, but it almost feels like watching 3 different films. It started like a parody of dead poet society, then follows up by a parody of war of the world, then a parody of unfaithful. And it seems like there's no correlation between these sequences.
Yes, i'm aware White Noise is a satire of a supposedly average american family dealing with mundane troubles of death, live, love blah blah blah. Yes, i know it's based on a novel. No, i haven't read the novel. But seeing this film as is, and for whatever this film trying to be, i don't find it entertaining. Most of the humorous aspects are cringe.
4/10.
It's a 'surrealism film' , but not really.
Yes, i'm aware White Noise is a satire of a supposedly average american family dealing with mundane troubles of death, live, love blah blah blah. Yes, i know it's based on a novel. No, i haven't read the novel. But seeing this film as is, and for whatever this film trying to be, i don't find it entertaining. Most of the humorous aspects are cringe.
4/10.
It's a 'surrealism film' , but not really.
Total waste of time
inovasoft30 December 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I can not possibly give this movie a full star. The waste of time and resources that went into the production of this movie is a total shame. The time that people will waste watching this uncoherent , useless movie is also a shame! Some of you will fall into some kind of "trap", waiting and hoping for the plot to actually begin and you will be fooled by the fact that there are "chapters". You will hope that all these unconnected events will somehow build a full picture at some point. Well, the picture they build is that you have wasted two hours of your life, that's it! Time is free but it is also priceless, so spend it anyway other then by watching this movie!
A lot to like, and a lot I didn't fully understand
Jeremy_Urquhart12 December 2022
I have to admire Noah Baumbach for following up Marriage Story with White Noise. Apart from each starring Adam Driver and centring on a family, the two couldn't be more different. One's a deeply emotional, easy to follow, and very moving family drama, and the other one... well, it's White Noise.
It's got a premise that's hard to describe. There's a disaster which causes a great deal of panic for much of the film, but it's not the film's entire focus. In some ways, it feels a little like three short films all starring the same characters, and it's a bit hard to figure out how it all connects sometimes.
The movie reminded me of other wild, unpredictable, all over the place movies in recent years, like Inherent Vice and Under the Silver Lake, but both of those felt like they had more method to their madness, and were consistent with their craziness.
White Noise definitely isn't bad though. Adam Driver is as great as always, there were some funny parts, and much of the first hour or so is quite exciting. I'd say it's the final 45 minutes that have a few parts that drag, but then again, it builds to a good final scene, so make of that what you will.
I look forward to seeing what people say when this drops on Netflix (but who knows whether it'll get much attention - it can be hard to predict what will trend). I have no shame in admitting that maybe some of the discussion will help me understand the parts of this film that I didn't quite get from watching it just now.
(Also, if the Academy Awards don't nominate the LCD Soundsystem song written for this movie for Best Original Song, then they're cowards and/or they have no ears).
It's got a premise that's hard to describe. There's a disaster which causes a great deal of panic for much of the film, but it's not the film's entire focus. In some ways, it feels a little like three short films all starring the same characters, and it's a bit hard to figure out how it all connects sometimes.
The movie reminded me of other wild, unpredictable, all over the place movies in recent years, like Inherent Vice and Under the Silver Lake, but both of those felt like they had more method to their madness, and were consistent with their craziness.
White Noise definitely isn't bad though. Adam Driver is as great as always, there were some funny parts, and much of the first hour or so is quite exciting. I'd say it's the final 45 minutes that have a few parts that drag, but then again, it builds to a good final scene, so make of that what you will.
I look forward to seeing what people say when this drops on Netflix (but who knows whether it'll get much attention - it can be hard to predict what will trend). I have no shame in admitting that maybe some of the discussion will help me understand the parts of this film that I didn't quite get from watching it just now.
(Also, if the Academy Awards don't nominate the LCD Soundsystem song written for this movie for Best Original Song, then they're cowards and/or they have no ears).
When the methamphetamines kick in and you start to write a screenplay.
Top_Dawg_Critic1 January 2023
White noise definition: A constant background noise, especially one that drowns out other sounds. White noise helps get a better quality night's sleep by masking environmental or outside noises that are causing disturbed sleep, thus falling asleep much faster and effortlessly. Exactly.
The only difference from the definition and this film's title, is that white noise is constant and soothing, while this boring nonsense excuse of a film was all over the place and annoying. The constant incoherent blabbering and irrelevant convoluted sub-plots became a cringe-fest quickly. The entire runtime was utterly disjointed and exhaustingly unbalanced. Almost every scene had no reason to be included with any other scene. It's a bunch of failed older screenplays shredded then randomly taped together. Even the embarrassingly abundant cheap product placement wont pay the bills for this flop. This has to be the biggest waste of film production I've seen in a long time. Even the talented cast were to be laughed at, not laughed with, which is about the only comedy in this film. All the critics who praised this nonsense clearly inhaled the fumes. So don't waste your time with this even if you're curious, it's 136 minutes of your life you will never get back. This nonsense should be studied in film schools on what not to do. It's a very generous 2/10, only for the decent score and pity for the cast that have to have their names attached to this.
The only difference from the definition and this film's title, is that white noise is constant and soothing, while this boring nonsense excuse of a film was all over the place and annoying. The constant incoherent blabbering and irrelevant convoluted sub-plots became a cringe-fest quickly. The entire runtime was utterly disjointed and exhaustingly unbalanced. Almost every scene had no reason to be included with any other scene. It's a bunch of failed older screenplays shredded then randomly taped together. Even the embarrassingly abundant cheap product placement wont pay the bills for this flop. This has to be the biggest waste of film production I've seen in a long time. Even the talented cast were to be laughed at, not laughed with, which is about the only comedy in this film. All the critics who praised this nonsense clearly inhaled the fumes. So don't waste your time with this even if you're curious, it's 136 minutes of your life you will never get back. This nonsense should be studied in film schools on what not to do. It's a very generous 2/10, only for the decent score and pity for the cast that have to have their names attached to this.
It came true
robertoshea-2762317 February 2023
Warning: Spoilers
February 14, 2023 the movie story comes to real life. A train going through Palestine, Ohio on Valentine's Day the derailed causing chemical spills. Toxic plumes of smoke spreads through Ohio and states east. The water supplies are poisoned. Wild life killed and people are becoming infected. Norfolk railroad and local authorities state that it's safe to go home. They lied! People are sick cats and dogs that were outside are died. Fish in near by water are dead! I posted the link to this movie on social websites just to find that they were deleted shortly afterwards. What are they hiding? Some say it was a freak accident.
Garbage masquerading as thought-provoking
klwalthour15 December 2022
Warning: Spoilers
First and foremost, this film is misrepresented as "horror", something it is not. The use of a suspenseful score to accompany a drawn-out mundane scene is not grounds for a horror consideration.
As for the film itself: unbelievably mediocre. The dialogue was non-organic and awkward. Any time something remotely interesting did happen, it was immediately intercepted by awkward conversations and unrelated plot points. A major discussion on death is attempted but the ambiguous dialogue circumvents any meaning from shining through. The film starts with an interesting event of a toxic chemical leak and the societal and familial repercussions-it was intriguing, there was humor, and it was scary at times. Just as it was peaking, it-the cloud of chemicals, and the plot with it-mysteriously disappeared and had no meaningful weight on the film. The ending descended into maintained, boring chaos only punctuated by cheap weirdness and pretentious attempts at character enlightenment and closure.
Overall, this film was a monumental waste of 2 hours. An absurd drama-comedy, at best, weakly grasping for a "thought-provoking" consideration through cheap suspense and a nonsensical, nihilistic storyline.
Don't get me started on that horrible credits scene...
As for the film itself: unbelievably mediocre. The dialogue was non-organic and awkward. Any time something remotely interesting did happen, it was immediately intercepted by awkward conversations and unrelated plot points. A major discussion on death is attempted but the ambiguous dialogue circumvents any meaning from shining through. The film starts with an interesting event of a toxic chemical leak and the societal and familial repercussions-it was intriguing, there was humor, and it was scary at times. Just as it was peaking, it-the cloud of chemicals, and the plot with it-mysteriously disappeared and had no meaningful weight on the film. The ending descended into maintained, boring chaos only punctuated by cheap weirdness and pretentious attempts at character enlightenment and closure.
Overall, this film was a monumental waste of 2 hours. An absurd drama-comedy, at best, weakly grasping for a "thought-provoking" consideration through cheap suspense and a nonsensical, nihilistic storyline.
Don't get me started on that horrible credits scene...
Don't fault the film
myartifact-979831 January 2023
The film itself is near perfect. Adam Driver and Greata Gerwig were great. Baumbach is at the top of his directing game. Great performances even from the bit characters, great set production, cinematography, music, pacing....everything is just about perfect. The problem is, is the source material. It is an extremally difficult novel to adapt from. The book, while not long, was a heavy, frantic read that would be hard to translate into a screenplay. In my opinion, Noah did a great job. In face, one of the best novel to film adaptions I've seen so far.
So if you haven't read the novel, you might be disappointed. If you don't like absurdist comedies, you might be disappointed. If you don't like dry humor, you might be disappointed. So already you can see that the film won't appeal to many, BUT If you have checked all three boxes, than you'll probably enjoy the film.
So if you haven't read the novel, you might be disappointed. If you don't like absurdist comedies, you might be disappointed. If you don't like dry humor, you might be disappointed. So already you can see that the film won't appeal to many, BUT If you have checked all three boxes, than you'll probably enjoy the film.
"White Noise" explores society's relationship with death and fear in a thought-provoking and engaging way.
FilmFanatic20238 December 2022
In "White Noise," director Noah Baumbach deftly explores the themes of consumerism, conspiracy theories, and collective trauma through the lens of a family unmoored by an airborne toxic event. While the final act struggles to merge the film's playful spirit with its more serious material, the unexpected blend of author Don DeLillo and filmmaker Baumbach makes for a thought-provoking and engaging watch. Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig shine as the leading couple, and the technical achievements in capturing the family's evacuation are impressive. Overall, "White Noise" is a timely and thought-provoking exploration of the ways in which society deals with death and fear.
Think of a psychedelic trip by someone who likes the smell of their own farts and decided to write it down.
kevgilbert30 December 2022
This film has some hilarious one liners and twisted distortions of reality. The first act had me so intrigued I was gripped. Then I was confused. Then I couldn't decide if it was a comedy intentionally or not.
The reality is this film doesn't quite know what it is, and if you think it's going to go somewhere or wrap anything up at the end then you are dead wrong.
Weird for weirds sake is the name of the game. Think of a psychedelic trip by someone who likes the smell of their own farts and decided to write it down.
A future cult classic in the making and I'm sure many people will revere this film for years to come; rewatching it for it's one liners and oddities. For me however one baffling, confusing watch is enough to last a lifetime.
The reality is this film doesn't quite know what it is, and if you think it's going to go somewhere or wrap anything up at the end then you are dead wrong.
Weird for weirds sake is the name of the game. Think of a psychedelic trip by someone who likes the smell of their own farts and decided to write it down.
A future cult classic in the making and I'm sure many people will revere this film for years to come; rewatching it for it's one liners and oddities. For me however one baffling, confusing watch is enough to last a lifetime.
A light Baumbach look at our fear of death and hope for a better tomorrow.
JohnDeSando17 December 2022
"But out of some persistent sense of large-scale ruin, we keep inventing hope." Jack (Adam Driver)
Despite our youthful sense of hope, Americans have forever been shunning death from buying groceries in large amounts to releasing anxieties through Hollywood musicals. Now writer/director Noah Baumbach has crafted a satire, White Noise (based on the popular Don DeLillo novel), so gentle yet so perceptive you might neglect that fear of death and embrace a Spielberg-like fantasy set in the Reagan era about a liberal college town experiencing a toxic cloud of chemicals from an explosion forcing them to evacuate their safe haven.
Jack, a professor of Hitler Studies (talk about death!) at The College on the Hill, regularly converses with his sweet wife, Babette (Greta Gerwig), about hoping he will die before her. Add to that concern the airborne toxic event that threatens his tight-knit family, and Baumbach takes us into Spielberg's War of the Worlds neighborhood, careening out of town while practically mowing down anybody in the way of their station wagon.
During the flight, the family chats away about disparate topics as most academic families I know do. Jack's family station wagon and its slo-mo trajectory not only evoke National Lampoon's Vacation, but it also humorously underscores their race to outpace death (not a promising mission). By the way, Driver and Gerwig are Golden Globes nominated for these roles.
Even in the casual meetings of Jack's academic buddies, the conversation is brainy, eccentric, and deathless. An academic specialist in Elvis, Murray (Don Cheadle), seems removed from Elvis's tragic death.
The dry delivery, e.g., "I see these car crashes as part of a long tradition of American optimism!" (Murray) with many of the characters is indicative of Baumbach's twinkled-eyed pessimism that his fellow Americans will never fully understand how their demise is both sad and terrible but never meant to restrain their happiness.
Staying to the end of White Noise will afford you the joy of seeing Americans singing and dancing in an A & P. Yes, this is a quirky but hopeful take on the Reagan era and our contemporary society. Great Christmas fare.
Despite our youthful sense of hope, Americans have forever been shunning death from buying groceries in large amounts to releasing anxieties through Hollywood musicals. Now writer/director Noah Baumbach has crafted a satire, White Noise (based on the popular Don DeLillo novel), so gentle yet so perceptive you might neglect that fear of death and embrace a Spielberg-like fantasy set in the Reagan era about a liberal college town experiencing a toxic cloud of chemicals from an explosion forcing them to evacuate their safe haven.
Jack, a professor of Hitler Studies (talk about death!) at The College on the Hill, regularly converses with his sweet wife, Babette (Greta Gerwig), about hoping he will die before her. Add to that concern the airborne toxic event that threatens his tight-knit family, and Baumbach takes us into Spielberg's War of the Worlds neighborhood, careening out of town while practically mowing down anybody in the way of their station wagon.
During the flight, the family chats away about disparate topics as most academic families I know do. Jack's family station wagon and its slo-mo trajectory not only evoke National Lampoon's Vacation, but it also humorously underscores their race to outpace death (not a promising mission). By the way, Driver and Gerwig are Golden Globes nominated for these roles.
Even in the casual meetings of Jack's academic buddies, the conversation is brainy, eccentric, and deathless. An academic specialist in Elvis, Murray (Don Cheadle), seems removed from Elvis's tragic death.
The dry delivery, e.g., "I see these car crashes as part of a long tradition of American optimism!" (Murray) with many of the characters is indicative of Baumbach's twinkled-eyed pessimism that his fellow Americans will never fully understand how their demise is both sad and terrible but never meant to restrain their happiness.
Staying to the end of White Noise will afford you the joy of seeing Americans singing and dancing in an A & P. Yes, this is a quirky but hopeful take on the Reagan era and our contemporary society. Great Christmas fare.
Not For Everyone
bankofmarquis11 January 2023
Oscar Nominated for his screenplay for THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, Writer/Director Noah Baumbach often lists Woody Allen as one of his influences and in his latest work, WHITE NOISE, this influence shines through strongly.
Mis-advertised by NETLFLIX as an existential disaster movie, WHITE NOISE is typical Baumbach - heavy on dialogue, angst and the ponderings of the meaning and reason for life all set in an absurdist reality, while short on action. These types of films are not for everyone and Baumbach's wit and style are an acquired taste.
And...for this film...the taste was very satisfying.
Starring perennial Baumbach actors, Oscar Nominees Adam Driver (MARRIAGE STORY) and Greta Gerwig (writer/director of LADYBIRD), White Noise is based on the acclaimed Don Dellilo novel and is a satirical/absurdist look into Academia (he's a College Professor who is the leading authority on "Hitler Studies"), death (she is obsessed with trying to not to do that) and marriage (to say their marriage is rocky is an understatement). When an airborne "toxic event" alters their comfortable living, the film also can't help but being a commentary on the recent pandemic - though this film (and the novel) are set in 1984.
One has to be in the mood for this sort of cinema - and when I settled in to check out this movie on Netflix, the mood of the film and my mood matched perfectly and I was able to be swallowed up into this absurdist world. Which is one that is not easy to be swallowed up into. Because as is the case with Baumbach's films, White Noise is all dialogue, filled with existential angst, pondering the meaning of life while punctuated with absurd situations...and they fit together well.
Driver, as one expects, is terrific in the lead role - and that's a good thing for he is in almost every scene in the movie. Gerwig fares less well - but that might be more the fault of the screenplay than her performance. The only other performer/performance worth noting is Don Cheadle as another Professor at the College that Driver's character works.
You'll either praise Baumbach's work on this one - or will switch the movie off in the first half hour. I wouldn't blame you if you did, but if you hang in there and catch the feeling of this film, you'll be rewarded with an interesting, absurd thought piece on life...and death.
Oh...and don't miss the Dance Performance Art that plays during the end credits.
You read that right. Which is a fitting capstone for this interesting character-driven satire.
Letter Grade: B
7 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
Mis-advertised by NETLFLIX as an existential disaster movie, WHITE NOISE is typical Baumbach - heavy on dialogue, angst and the ponderings of the meaning and reason for life all set in an absurdist reality, while short on action. These types of films are not for everyone and Baumbach's wit and style are an acquired taste.
And...for this film...the taste was very satisfying.
Starring perennial Baumbach actors, Oscar Nominees Adam Driver (MARRIAGE STORY) and Greta Gerwig (writer/director of LADYBIRD), White Noise is based on the acclaimed Don Dellilo novel and is a satirical/absurdist look into Academia (he's a College Professor who is the leading authority on "Hitler Studies"), death (she is obsessed with trying to not to do that) and marriage (to say their marriage is rocky is an understatement). When an airborne "toxic event" alters their comfortable living, the film also can't help but being a commentary on the recent pandemic - though this film (and the novel) are set in 1984.
One has to be in the mood for this sort of cinema - and when I settled in to check out this movie on Netflix, the mood of the film and my mood matched perfectly and I was able to be swallowed up into this absurdist world. Which is one that is not easy to be swallowed up into. Because as is the case with Baumbach's films, White Noise is all dialogue, filled with existential angst, pondering the meaning of life while punctuated with absurd situations...and they fit together well.
Driver, as one expects, is terrific in the lead role - and that's a good thing for he is in almost every scene in the movie. Gerwig fares less well - but that might be more the fault of the screenplay than her performance. The only other performer/performance worth noting is Don Cheadle as another Professor at the College that Driver's character works.
You'll either praise Baumbach's work on this one - or will switch the movie off in the first half hour. I wouldn't blame you if you did, but if you hang in there and catch the feeling of this film, you'll be rewarded with an interesting, absurd thought piece on life...and death.
Oh...and don't miss the Dance Performance Art that plays during the end credits.
You read that right. Which is a fitting capstone for this interesting character-driven satire.
Letter Grade: B
7 stars (out of 10) and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
Delillo's postmodern epic makes it to the screen
dianahwynter4 December 2022
Delillo's wild postmodern epic is faithfully adapted on Baumbach's watch. Packed with every genre known to cinema, Baumbach's dark satire highlights the prophetic nature of the novel, which of course could only be revealed many years after its initial publication. Baumbach captures Delillo's lampooning of the ego of academe -with a team of nutty professors that includes Don Cheadle, Andre 3000, Logan Fry, Jodi Turner-Smith- and middle-class malaise with Mama poppin' pills courtesy of a mad scientist. It's mayhem and chaos in a Warholian paradise, with a hint of noir on the side. Good 'messy' fun.
A bit of a head scratcher
sirenau11 October 2022
As someone who didn't read the book the movie is based on, i will say that i did not connect with this movie or the characters. Am ok with not connecting with characters but the characters in this movie are hard to understand which is odd because they talk and talk (usually at 100 miles an hour and over each other) so you think they would be all out in the open but it was like a wall between them and me. Like i completely failed to understand what it was that the author was saying about the world or the country when he wrote the book. Though i assume that the book was making some sort of commentary about the state of affairs because this movie feels somewhat too large in scale to just be a movie about coming to term with mortality and the difficulties that can arise in a marriage. Like the movie isn't bad but what are you? I will watch it again when it comes out on Netflix to try and see it with fresher eyes but if the purpose of the movie is to frustrate people so much that we rewatch it multiple times, i will say that they will succeed.
Organized chaos.
eliaseidmaalouf29 May 2023
Simply put: Beautiful, meaningful, organized chaos, traditional "reviewers" and "viewers" won't and didn't like this movie for a reason, its not your average cup of joe and that's why I absolutely fell in love with it, felt like watching multiple artworks, Adam Driver killed it, it all depends on your perspective, you can learn a-lot of such movie, I feel bad for the people who wouldn't feel this art piece the way I do...
absolutely stunning, start to finish, 3 movies in 1
maybe i'm relating too much to it because of the period i'm going through right now in my life, maybe deep down we are all like "Baba" but we are trying to be like Mr. Grey disguised as Jack, maybe all men ARE killers and violence is the beat resort...
-elias maalouf.
-elias maalouf.
Says it was a comedy. It wasn't funny.
sherripadgitt-5553631 December 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I thought this would be interesting and was really interested in the chemical spill part of the movie and I was sure it was going to let that play out. Nope. But that would have been interesting. Instead this movie takes you on a really weird trippy journey in lives of people who just talk a lot. They get most of their words wrong or make up words as they go along and I found that really irritating. I'm not sure what that trope was about but, I hope not to see that again.
This is like an over-the-top dram(edy)--even though it isn't funny, about mundane people who can't focus on any one thing to save their lives. A mundane family of which the father is a professor who teaches Nazism (yeah of all things). There are other odd professors also in the same school who teach oddball stuff. One guy thinks Elvis is the sh** and lectures on that, while at the same time loves movie car crashes. None of the movie makes much sense and I became exhausted trying to figure out what they were saying that I just had to give up about 3/4 way through. The chemical spill did nothing for the film unless they wanted to make the movie about that, otherwise it was just there and as unrelated as everything else in the movie.
To compare this to anything would be like trying to imagine you have dementia for about an hour and a half. Yup. That is a good summation.
This is like an over-the-top dram(edy)--even though it isn't funny, about mundane people who can't focus on any one thing to save their lives. A mundane family of which the father is a professor who teaches Nazism (yeah of all things). There are other odd professors also in the same school who teach oddball stuff. One guy thinks Elvis is the sh** and lectures on that, while at the same time loves movie car crashes. None of the movie makes much sense and I became exhausted trying to figure out what they were saying that I just had to give up about 3/4 way through. The chemical spill did nothing for the film unless they wanted to make the movie about that, otherwise it was just there and as unrelated as everything else in the movie.
To compare this to anything would be like trying to imagine you have dementia for about an hour and a half. Yup. That is a good summation.
Good highlights, all in all okay, the book was better
stef7000031 December 2022
I reviewed the book a few years back, here's the pertinent part:
"I loved practically everything, sometimes hard to pin point what it is. The gloomy atmosphere of death, consumerism, and odd existential crisis-inducing triggers was absolutely phenomenal. [...], but apart from that we have the whole struggle-bus of person vs. Machine, person vs. Reality, person vs. Simulation (Baudrillard let's go!), person vs. Death. I laughed out loud many times over the juxtaposition of extremely accurate descriptions of products or sentiments of the characters. When they say 'reality is stranger than fiction', it's mostly true, but DeLillo captures the essence of exactly that reality that we refer to which is stranger than fiction. [...]"
I think the adaption was great when it was on point, which was unfortunately only a handful of times. I think he nailed the Hitler studies, the supermarket, and the hyper self-awareness when Adam Driver is at the hotel room at the end. Other than that it was mostly just okay entertainment, if you're into discombobulated, vaguely post-modern fiction, a bit strange and unclear, if you're not into that. The airborn toxic event was much funnier in the book, when they lingered a bit more on the simulation vs. Reality bit. Moreover, the book was in my view carried by the details, the little interactions, nobody listening to each other, constantly repeating themselves, the product descriptions, the atmosphere, the indifference or incapacity of people to deal with a crisis at hand. Most of these more 'ambient' motifs were hard to convey, even though they did a decent job disorienting the viewer in terms of conversations that they run in parallel. Spoiler (skip to the end of the paragraph): the fact that they didn't do the Wilder bit at the end, is a pity, after foreshadowing that all plots go towards death.
All in all decent, but maybe more of a rounded up 7, since I'm a fan, otherwise it might be more of a 6, but whatever.
P. S.: I just wrote the title of the review with the ultimate "the book was better" ... I promise I'm fun at parties, but I'm aware that "the book was better" does not bode well for me.
"I loved practically everything, sometimes hard to pin point what it is. The gloomy atmosphere of death, consumerism, and odd existential crisis-inducing triggers was absolutely phenomenal. [...], but apart from that we have the whole struggle-bus of person vs. Machine, person vs. Reality, person vs. Simulation (Baudrillard let's go!), person vs. Death. I laughed out loud many times over the juxtaposition of extremely accurate descriptions of products or sentiments of the characters. When they say 'reality is stranger than fiction', it's mostly true, but DeLillo captures the essence of exactly that reality that we refer to which is stranger than fiction. [...]"
I think the adaption was great when it was on point, which was unfortunately only a handful of times. I think he nailed the Hitler studies, the supermarket, and the hyper self-awareness when Adam Driver is at the hotel room at the end. Other than that it was mostly just okay entertainment, if you're into discombobulated, vaguely post-modern fiction, a bit strange and unclear, if you're not into that. The airborn toxic event was much funnier in the book, when they lingered a bit more on the simulation vs. Reality bit. Moreover, the book was in my view carried by the details, the little interactions, nobody listening to each other, constantly repeating themselves, the product descriptions, the atmosphere, the indifference or incapacity of people to deal with a crisis at hand. Most of these more 'ambient' motifs were hard to convey, even though they did a decent job disorienting the viewer in terms of conversations that they run in parallel. Spoiler (skip to the end of the paragraph): the fact that they didn't do the Wilder bit at the end, is a pity, after foreshadowing that all plots go towards death.
All in all decent, but maybe more of a rounded up 7, since I'm a fan, otherwise it might be more of a 6, but whatever.
P. S.: I just wrote the title of the review with the ultimate "the book was better" ... I promise I'm fun at parties, but I'm aware that "the book was better" does not bode well for me.
What was that??
nikos_belitsis30 December 2022
What exactly does this film want to achieve? Why should the weird and sometimes paranoid look or angle of a director or script writer be something worth mentioning, let alone made into a movie? I honestly tried to see this movie with as clear a mind as I can... Is there something wrong with me? Is there some secret dimension hidden in this film that I (40 years old) can't grasp? Where is the director looking forward to? Amuse us? Entertain us? Drive us crazy? The last one, he succeeded! What did I watch? A strange, motley family whose members' dialogues use pretentious expressions full of disjointed, meaningless words and a tendency to impress even the teenagers of the family with their knowledge and strange inclinations! Do us a favor... We are not so easy to get. 1/10 from me.
Faithful to the Source
Pickwick124 January 2023
It's obvious a lot of reviewers of this film had no idea what to expect because of having no idea what is in the book it's based on. I'm not criticizing; there's certainly an argument for the fact that an adaptation should work on its own, even if you're unfamiliar. I'm not objective because I've read the book, and I thought it was pretty stunning. As an adaptation, the movie replicated the experience I had reading it-which is what I wanted and expected.
I expected stylized dialogue and characters, with wildly surreal, satirical plot points united by theme rather than subject. If you don't understand what exactly unites the movie's acts and their progression, I struggle to explain it without getting overly spoilery but would suggest deeper investigation and checking out the novel, which is superb. To me, it makes sense. The interaction of the intensely personal with the broadly circumstantial creates a framework to discuss the capital I "Issue" that every human must deal with-and the ways we choose to cope, together and separately.
What I applaud Noah and his actors for is making me care. The book has a brilliant writing style, but its surreality failed to give me some of the visceral sucker punches managed by Adam and Greta in particular.
This film is not going to be for everyone, and I suspect its cast and crew was well aware of this. It's self-consciously extremely intellectual, long, and strange, with humor as dry as a desert. And it's purposefully unsettling. I would argue that it very much should be. It's making us look at something we all face daily-whether we like it or not.
I expected stylized dialogue and characters, with wildly surreal, satirical plot points united by theme rather than subject. If you don't understand what exactly unites the movie's acts and their progression, I struggle to explain it without getting overly spoilery but would suggest deeper investigation and checking out the novel, which is superb. To me, it makes sense. The interaction of the intensely personal with the broadly circumstantial creates a framework to discuss the capital I "Issue" that every human must deal with-and the ways we choose to cope, together and separately.
What I applaud Noah and his actors for is making me care. The book has a brilliant writing style, but its surreality failed to give me some of the visceral sucker punches managed by Adam and Greta in particular.
This film is not going to be for everyone, and I suspect its cast and crew was well aware of this. It's self-consciously extremely intellectual, long, and strange, with humor as dry as a desert. And it's purposefully unsettling. I would argue that it very much should be. It's making us look at something we all face daily-whether we like it or not.
A fairly Dull Yarn about fear and anxiety
eve_dolluk31 December 2022
The film is split into 3 parts.
The first part is the day to day life of a family and how the 2 parents try to hide their inner fears and anxieties through either inane chit chat and waffle or through tablets. It becomes obvious that everyone else around them appears to be doing the same. I guess thats where the title comes from all that White Noise, meaningless words and incessant jabbering.
The middle part is actual fear, a disaster happens which upsets the familys mundane but rhythmic life. I guess this opens up new territory for them and opens up the wounds or creates new ones
The third part is about confronting these fears and anxieties either inner or outer fears.
The premise isn't bad if you like a psychological yarn however the execution and pay off are pretty mundane and also out of character and wonky. With some sharper and wittier dialogue or a more interesting catalyst this could have been way better.
I get the point the director is trying to make and it all becomes perfectly clear but it was done in the dullest, most roundabout way possible and barely scratches the surface.
The cinematography is good and it captures the 80s pretty well, its also well acted but it just lacks oomph.
6/10.
The first part is the day to day life of a family and how the 2 parents try to hide their inner fears and anxieties through either inane chit chat and waffle or through tablets. It becomes obvious that everyone else around them appears to be doing the same. I guess thats where the title comes from all that White Noise, meaningless words and incessant jabbering.
The middle part is actual fear, a disaster happens which upsets the familys mundane but rhythmic life. I guess this opens up new territory for them and opens up the wounds or creates new ones
The third part is about confronting these fears and anxieties either inner or outer fears.
The premise isn't bad if you like a psychological yarn however the execution and pay off are pretty mundane and also out of character and wonky. With some sharper and wittier dialogue or a more interesting catalyst this could have been way better.
I get the point the director is trying to make and it all becomes perfectly clear but it was done in the dullest, most roundabout way possible and barely scratches the surface.
The cinematography is good and it captures the 80s pretty well, its also well acted but it just lacks oomph.
6/10.
Really?
traceytak30 December 2022
Started watching and the characters just spoke constantly over each other, no need or desire to think about what they were saying, no clue what they were actually saying, no time to process what they were saying. So I put the subtitles on, that might help I thought, nope, still couldn't keep up, the type of conversation I would find inanely dull in real life and would walk away from. Then after 30 minutes of watching I asked my husband if he had any idea what this film was about, nope he replied. Can we be bothered when we just want to be entertained? Nope. Communication is important in a film, this film finds communication a difficult task. Obviously we turned it off, why waste our time. People state on here that it's thought provoking, well I disagree and think real life is far more thought provoking and entertaining than a family that cannot communicate clearly.
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