Writer/director Noah Baumbach steps out of his usual style (for the most part) with his adaptation of Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel White Noise — a satirical genre-blender that makes for an entertaining watch until loses steam in its final act.
White Noise follows respected college professor Jack Gladney (Adam Driver) as he prepares for a pivotal professional moment while also dealing with family issues. Jack’s entire world is thrown into chaos when the “Toxic Airborne Event” puts the life of Jack’s family in jeopardy and forces them to confront death in uncomfortable ways. White Noise is undoubtedly Baumbach’s most unique film to date not just because of the more outward style of comedy he goes for, but also because of the clear budget he was given to make this his most ambitious film as well.
The performances easily get you hooked from the start with how funny, light-hearted, and purposefully overdone they can be. Driver absolutely thrives in being both a high-minded and slightly egotistical professor who just loves to talk about Hitler as well as a lovable funny dad. There’s a sequence where Jack is having a debate, which really comes off like an academic sermon, with fellow professor Murray (Don Cheadle) in front of Murray’s class and it’s the funniest sequence of the entire first act. It’s literally two acting titans in a battle of words and rhetoric and they go so over the top, especially Driver, that you can’t help but be dying of laughter during it.
As for the rest of the Gladney clan, they’re full of enjoyable and entertaining personalities and performances. Family matriarch Babs (Greta Gerwig) is a complimentary parent to Jack with her bubbly personality and liveliness which is a real treat and brings out some good laughs. The ongoing thread surrounding her taking a mysterious pill is a good bit of intrigue for her character. Gerwig nails the more dramatic and emotional parts of Babs story in the final act. The Gladney kids are especially a treat with the comedic charm they bring to the daily family interactions, and it’s nice how oldest daughter Denise (Raffey Cassidy) has a good connection with her parents since she’s the first to point out Babs’ pill taking. All the hilarious and sometimes chaotic chemistry of the Gladney family transitions perfectly into the film’s unique second act as the “Toxic Airborne Event” to make it a comedy epic like no other.
White Noise’s contagion-focused second act is a total blast to watch and really showcases Baumbach playing with a larger budget. The large-scale chaos that comes from everyone trying to escape the amazing looking, but scary toxic cloud overhead is big-screen worthy. The intensity of certain moments, like Jack possibly being infected by the cloud while getting gas, is a nice turn in the tone of the film. Yet, even as things become more tense and more horror-driven, the laughs and comedy only become greater as the Gladney’s are thrown out of their element. There’s an awesome river sequence that’ll leave every viewer laughing and plenty of fun arguments that are total gut-busters. Plus, you get to see Driver go into full “Dad-mode” and it allows him to deliver some of the funniest moments of his career thus far.
White Noise really showcases what Baumbach can be outside of his more grounded dramas. He makes the experience a real genre-shifter as each act transitions into a different genre to give it a unique feel within the story, including having the ending credits be a goofy, but lovable musical dance number. However, the big shifts in genre don’t always work to the film’s benefit since they can be so strong and sudden that it breaks the momentum of the film. Often it feels like the film is restarting in a new form rather than just transitioning to a new feel and tone within the story and it doesn’t create a connective flow with the themes and story beats.
The themes surrounding fear of death and misinformation don’t come off as strongly because of the big genre shifts and the lack of deep engagement. While the performances can make moments memorable and keep viewers interested, the thematic meaning can get lost too easily because of the execution of them. There are definitely moments that touch on misinformation really well, but for the most part, you kind of forget about what the film is trying to get you to think, making the third act very bizarre at times because its ideas feel forced.
Frankly, if the Gladney kids were a more prevalent part of the big discussions about death between Jack and Babs, Baumbach’s more grounded storytelling could’ve thrived well with the themes, especially since the kids have such a mature feel and thinking. However, the film struggles to be grounded, relatable, or easy to grasp when delving into its themes and inner character aspects so the impact never feels that strong. The themes are honestly so academic-based and philosophically executed at times that it’s even tougher to believe that a wider Netflix audience will even recognize or relate to them in a similar vein to something like Marriage Story.
White Noise doesn’t necessarily nail the experience it attempts to present as the major genre shifts don’t always work and the themes can’t make a deep impact, but there is something to be celebrated about it. Baumbach certainly shows a different side of himself with the way he helms fun performances, big set pieces, and a wildly entertaining second act and his odes to different genres in one film can be awesome to see. It’s not perfect by any means and often gets in its own way, but White Noise is an intriguing watch that has some real standout moments.
