Film Review: WHITE NOISE (2022): Noah Baumbach’s Offbeat Film Has Solid Performances but is Overlong and Too Strange for its Own Good

White Noise Review

White Noise (2022) Film Review, a movie written and directed by Noah Baumbach and starring Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Raffey Cassidy, Don Cheadle, Jodie Turner-Smith, Lars Eidinger, Logan Fry, Andre 3000, Gideon Glick, Laura Wimbels, Erica Sweany, Sam Nivola, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Danny Wolohan, Matthew Shear, Thomas W Wolf and Mike Gassaway.

There’s a certain point in a famous director’s career where the filmmaker can pretty much get away with just about anything because his films have become known as a constant staple of excellence. Noah Baumbach could have made just about any movie he wanted to make these days and he chose to make the highly unusual (and lengthy) film, White Noise which is based on a book by Don DeLillo. This film is set in the 1980’s and is a colossal example of a filmmaker who has become a little too comfortable for his own good. When the end credits roll to one of the most ingenious set pieces of all-time, one can’t help but wonder where that brilliance was during the scenes that preceded it.

Baumbach’s new film (which was lensed in Cleveland) is not a bad one but it’s a bit pretentious. This picture showcases Adam Driver in his quirkiest role yet as Jack Gladney who is raising a family with a woman named Babette (Greta Gerwig). It’s a pretty hip place in which this group resides. Jack Gladney is a college professor and teaches Hitler studies. Right off the bat, this movie stumbles with that idea alone. While such courses may exist, this film (as a comedy) may have been better off avoiding such an odd initial premise. The whole concept of the professor teaching that type of course feels a bit ill-conceived.

Raffey Cassidy expertly plays Denise who learns her mom, Babette, is taking a peculiar drug. Is it related to potential memory loss? Before one can think back to last year’s far superior, Don’t Look Up, the new picture shifts focus to an airborne disaster that greatly affects the people in the town. They must leave the area immediately to avoid any further complications.

Greta Gerwig is much better here than Driver is although both performers are definitely intriguing to watch. Driver can’t help but play the role he has here the way that it’s written, and he does, more or less, succeed as a flawed and overanalytical man. However, Gerwig has the showier role even with less screen time. Her expertly created hairstyle is absolutely amazing to look at too. Gerwig takes her character and runs with her, creating a fascinating woman with a secret past.

Don Cheadle pops up in the picture as Jack’s friend Murray and Cheadle makes the most of his role in the picture as well, reminding viewers why he is one of the best character actors working today. Cheadle is full of originality and makes good in terms of the way he tackles an otherwise underwritten role. Raffey Cassidy as the daughter of Jack and Babette is certainly the standout of the younger performers in the picture, adding a good deal of energy and charisma to her part.

Religion plays a key role in the movie. Since the idea of death is discussed quite frequently in the film, Jack must deal with certain aspects of his mortality. Could he die from the toxicity of what has been unleashed in his town? How long does he have to live anyway? Does knowing an exact time frame of the duration of his life even make a difference in the grand scheme of things? When he meets a nun late in the picture and she denies interest in an afterlife, it makes for a contradictory moment for the nun, right? In Baumbach’s hands, I’m not so sure. Maybe the nun is just serving God for her own purpose and not really serving God in the traditional sense in which religious figures do. It’s all food for thought, nothing more.

White Noise is a disaster movie filled with characters with personal griefs. Jack can’t deal sufficiently with Babette’s past, and this fact creates complexity within the story line. He seems to love her, especially when fate intervenes as a gun goes off but still…can Jack accept the hand life has dealt him? Probably not but maybe. He’s teaching Hitler studies early on, but he doesn’t know how he truly feels about his own life so how can he teach about one of the greatest tragedies of our time sufficiently? His lectures feel phony and occasionally lack meaning. Jack doesn’t pay for gas at one point and seems like he doesn’t care about anything, but this makes the movie feel clumsy because he’s our main character and lacks the ability for the audience to relate much to him.

While Noah Baumbach probably wanted to make this movie to cement his status as a brave director unafraid of taking big risks, the mid-section plods. At the end, the movie comes to life a bit but then the closing credits roll. It’s a thoughtful movie to be sure that focuses in on how society can become hoodwinked by the “professional’s” constant conversations that lead to the fear of death and the fear of the unknown. White Noise is ambitious but lacks a compelling center. It’s all set up with the only pay off at the end being some inspired grocery shopping techniques.

Rating: 6/10

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