Since his debut feature, Kicking and Screaming, Noah Baumbach has slowly cemented himself as one of the most relatable filmmakers in contemporary cinema. His fast-paced, dialogue-heavy films consistently tackle the dynamic of the middle class family, the birth and death of relationships, growing up and finding our place — all with a level of humanity and realism that is, dare I say it, unparalleled.
Across his 11 feature films, the writer and director has crafted a filmography of outstanding range. They don’t all carry the emotional intensity of Marriage Story. There are some quirky comedies in there too, and for his latest project, White Noise, he tackles an adaptation for the first time in a film that blends comedy, disaster and paranoid thriller.
Here are all of Noah Baumbach’s feature films ranked — from worst to best, without a hint of bias from a fellow child of divorce.
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11. Mr Jealousy (1997)
This ranks at the bottom of the list purely on the basis that I’ve never seen it and you probably never will either. Seriously, this film basically does not exist outside of one DVD copy available on Amazon for £40. Even the trailer doesn’t seem to exist on YouTube (here it is on Daily Motion, you’re welcome). Could be a masterpiece. Could be rubbish. We’ll never know. Sorry, Noah. Mr Jealousy tells the story of paranoia and, you guessed it, jealousy as it relates to the romantic relationships of Lester (Eric Stoltz), who becomes undone when he discovers his latest partner used to date a successful novelist.
10. Margot at the Wedding (2007)
Look, I considered putting this below a film I literally have never seen. It’s not bad per say (to me, no Baumbach films are). It’s just… there. Nicole Kidman, Jack Black, (Noah’s ex-wife) Jennifer Jason Leigh, they’re all going for it in this story about family and sisterhood, but they’re all so deeply unlikeable throughout that it feels like a slog. The plot, such as it is, revolves around Kidman’s Margot visiting her sister Pauline (Leigh), with whom she shares a fractured relationship, to visit her and her new fiancé Malcolm (Black). Familial resentment can be a powerful tool in storytelling, but Margot at the Wedding boasts too many unsympathetic characters to ever make you care.
9. Greenberg (2010)
Perhaps best remembered for its importance off-screen as the time when Noah met Greta, Greenberg is an interesting and idiosyncratic take on an offbeat romance between two lost souls. Starring Ben Stiller, the pre-Adam Driver male muse for Baumbach, it’s quirky and unconventional in both style and presence. There’s a restrained awkwardness to his performance here, mixed in with a surprising pathos. It’s nothing special, but it’s a pleasant entry into Baumbach’s filmography.
8. Kicking and Screaming (1995)
Kicking and Screaming somehow feels very on-brand, yet different to any other feature Noah Baumbach has crafted. It’s about four pretentious college students looking to find purpose post-graduation. The character work here is an early indication of what we’ve come to expect from the filmmaker all these years later. There’s a carefree nature to the film that comes with it being his first feature. Everything feels loose, from the script to the shaky camera work. The dialogue and actions of our ‘protagonists’ stand out as the problem, however. If you have one date-rape joke in your film, it’s one too many. “Give me a year, and I’ll be taken to college court for date-raping one of these two girls” doesn’t make for the best reading in 2022.
7. While We’re Young (2014)
While We’re Young may find itself in the bottom half of this little ranking, but it’s a strong contender for Baumbach’s funniest film to date. It marks a slight shift from the norm in a few ways; it’s ostensibly a comedy with drama — rather than a thoughtful drama with a dash of humour — with frequent collaborator Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts playing a 40-something couple who develop a friendship with Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried, a couple in their 20s who live a drastically different and unconventional lifestyle. Ben and Naomi are both relatable and surprisingly sympathetic however — a feat that Baumbach has rarely attempted in his other movies.
6. Mistress America (2015)
One of his many collaborations with Barbie director Greta Gerwig, Mistress America feels like the best and the worst of Noah Baumbach, all distilled into a 90-minute neo-screwball comedy. Starring Greta and Lola Kirke, Mistress America tells the story of Tracy (Lola) as she struggles her way through loneliness upon starting university, only to befriend her soon-to-be sister-in-law Brooke (Greta). Greta Gerwig brings her unstoppable manic energy to the role, and she shares a wonderful, offbeat chemistry with Lola Kirke. Yet even their magnetic interactions can’t save the second act. The charm is gone, and all that remains is a dialogue-fest that pushes you away. It’s a sweet film about love, disappointment, finding yourself… but the structure lets it down.
5. White Noise (2022)
Many would avoid adapting what seemed to be an unadaptable novel. Don DeLillo’s White Noise is a structural marvel, tackling academia, hysteria and death — all through the eyes of Jack Gladney (played by Adam Driver in the film), a professor of Hitler Studies at an arts college in the American Midwest. Noah’s grounded, fast-paced dialogue created for the contemporary American family seem at times at odds with the dense prose of the novel, while the themes of mortality and hysteria seem occasionally out of his comfort zone. And yet, the more I think about White Noise, the more I’m convinced that seeing directors step out of their comfort zone is a joy to witness. Teaming up with Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig (again), the adaptation feels structurally jarring but never lacks for style or substance. A myriad of triumphs and flaws, White Noise does boast arguably the greatest closing credits sequence of all time – seriously, it’s an extended dance number in a supermarket set to LCD Soundsystem.
4. Frances Ha (2012)
One of his most critically acclaimed films, Frances Ha makes for delightful viewing upon every revisit. Co-written with Greta Gerwig, who also stars in the titular role, the film tells a powerful story of female friendship. There’s so much to love about Frances Ha: from the restrained direction, the elegant black-and-white cinematography of Sam Levy (Lady Bird), the breathlessly loopy and engaging performance from Greta. Noah may have directed, but this is truly her movie — the peak of their collaborations.
3. The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (2017)
Sharp and sophisticated, this poignant family dramedy marked the start of the Noah Baumbach/Netflix relationship. Dysfunctional siblings (Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller and Elizabeth Marvel) come together to celebrate their retired father, played by Dustin Hoffman. As in most of his films, the writer-director’s characters are given the opportunity to shine with powerful, cutting dialogue centred in the family unit. It’s Adam Sandler who truly steals the show with his turn as Danny, a performance that helped to kick off the Sandler-ssance. An exceptional piece of filmmaking.
2. The Squid and The Whale (2005)
Baumbach’s autobiographical tale of divorce and its impact on the family dynamic is a triumph. It’s a little proto-Marriage Story, clocking in at just 80-minutes long and tackling divorce from the perspective of the children, played here by Jesse Eisenberg and Owen Kline. The Squid and The Whale perfectly taps into the experience of divorce through the eyes of innocent adolescence. The desire to placate your parents. The uncomfortable feeling of picking sides. It’s bitingly honest, and never feels at all ‘Hollywood’. It’s human, painful and even funny.
1. Marriage Story (2019)
In a result that shocks no-one, this gut-wrenchingly tender depiction of divorce through the eyes of the parents takes the top spot. A film that was meme’d to high heaven somehow maintained its cultural cache as a powerhouse of cinema. Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson both deliver career-best performances, in part thanks to the humanistic script. Simultaneously hilarious and desperately sad, Marriage Story felt like the culmination of Noah Baumbach’s personal arc, one that started in 2005 with Squid. They are, in that sense, bookends to the same story. There’s an emotional depth in Marriage Story, something right in front of your face, but also restrained and intangible, that sets it apart. Stunning.