WHITE NOISE – Review by T.J. Callahan
White Noise : Whatever relaxes you is dangerous
White Noise is just that – a bunch of white noise. Psycho babble. Constant talking over one another about the state of the world and the well being of one particular family in 1985 America.
Jack and Babette are an existential Mike and Carol Brady. Divorcées with a blended family who must learn to get along with each other as well as the ever changing world. While grappling with consumerism on the home front, the tackle fear and the unknown when forced to evacuate their neighborhood due to an Airborne Toxic Event.
White Noise is on a whole other frequency. Based on a novel that was said to be unfilmable, director Noah Baumbach merges all the book’s storylines into a cornucopia of chaos. Adam Driver, with a paunch, is Jack, a college professor and Hitler expert. Baumbach’s wife and muse, Greta Gerwig, is Babette, an overstimulated working mom. Don Cheadle is Jack’s fear-loathing friend and co-worker, Murray Siskind.
I appreciated the attention to detail in this film. The costume design and set decorations are spot on. The viewer is transported back to the 80’s. But as I told my cousin Lois, drown out White Noise. It is not for the mainstream movie watcher. I wanted to be driven off this picture. Over two hours, it just got to be too much.
The best part of White Noise is the end…not because it’s over, but because there’s a fun flash mob dance in the aisles of the A & P to a catchy tune by LCD Soundsystem called New Body Rhumba. Ask for it in your Jazzercise class.
Otherwise White Noise gets a 4. My husband, Ricky gives it a half 👁 open.
