White Noise (2022)

	Directed by: Noah Baumbach	COUNTRY USA/UK GENRE Comedy/Drama NORWEGIAN TITLE White Noise RUNNING TIME 136 minutes
	Produced by: Noah Baumbach David Heyman Uri Singer
	Written by (based on the novel by Don DeLillo): Noah Baumbach

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Prof. Jack Gladney	Adam Driver	½
Babette Gladney	Greta Gerwig
Prof. Murray Siskind	Don Cheadle	½
Denise Gladney	Raffey Cassidy	½
Heinrich Gladney	Sam Nivola	-
Steffie Gladney	May Nivola	-
Winnie Richards	Jodie Turner-Smith	-
Elliot Lasher	André Benjamin	-
Alfonse	Sam Gold	-
Grappa	Carlos Jacott	-
Mr. Gray	Lars Eidinger
Dr. Hookstratten	Kenneth Lonergan	-

Review

It had been said that Don DeLillo's novel was "unfilmable", and Noah Baumbach largely demonstrates why in this misfire adaptation. Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig play an intellectual couple with a pathological fear of death. They are caught up with the zeitgeist of the early 1980s, swayed by consumerism, transcendental spirituality, and a postmodern worldview. They are experts at keeping everything at a distance, from raising their children to analyzing Hitler, but there is a flaw with this mindset: it cannot be applied to their own deaths.

The world Baumbach creates here is a glossed one, meant to instil a combination of nostalgia and futurism, while he vigorously tries to convey the quirkiness of the story. But he does it so meticulously and vehemently that it all becomes forced and inane. All the characters talk with the same choreographed cadence, which drains any spontaneity from the discourse. And the many remarkable situations they end up in never feel dynamic, but rather disjointed and oddly staged. There's also supposed to be quite a bit of comedy in the movie – suggested by the many wild exaggerations and deadpan comments – but there's little craftsmanship or sense of timing involved. A big disappointment from Baumbach after his brilliant Marriage Story a couple of years back.