White Noise
Year: 2022
Rating: R
Length: 136 minutes / 2.27 hours
It’s funny how I’ve always heard Noah Baumbach’s name in discussions revolving around directors I appreciate. Usually, when the conversation of scripts comes up with directors like Wes Anderson or Greta Gerwig, Baumbach gets a mention. While I couldn’t name a film of his that I had seen, his name was recognizable enough that I felt I had to give White Noise (2022) a try. After wishing I had those 2+ hours back, I realized I had seen one of his movies, Marriage Story (2019), which I also didn’t particularly care for. Now I know.
Granted, White Noise has some interesting bits. However, it never sticks with them long enough to fully conclude them. Instead, it flits from idea to idea, mostly making no sense at all (hence the title of the film, I suppose). There’s a lot of talking in this movie, but most of it feels so random that I wonder if the screenplay was written by one of Shakespeare’s monkeys who was having a particularly good day. If the movie is trying to say something, it is literally lost in the noise of the movie itself.
After peeking at Baumbach’s filmography, I think I’ll stick to films that he co-wrote. Something about this and Marriage Story makes me think collaboration is a better path—or at least one that’s more focused. And maybe there’s something deeply profound that I was supposed to pick out of this movie and I just didn’t get it. If so, fine. I’ll enjoy the small portions that made sense and just move on to another movie that doesn’t seem cobbled together from disparate ideas. I still think getting the “white noise” point across could have been handled better.
A nonsense movie that had brief moments that made sense, I give White Noise 2.0 stars out of 5.
