Every Noah Baumbach Movie, Ranked

It's hard not to view Mr. Jealousy as the sophomore slump after Baumbach's much ballyhooed debut, Kicking and Screaming. The comedy follows insecure writer Lester Grimm (Eric Stoltz), who begins dating intellectual Audrey Rouget (Annabella Sciorra) but becomes consumed by jealousy over her famous novelist ex-boyfriend. Lester's pathological envy leads him to enroll in the writer's therapy group under a false identity to spy on Audrey's ex. While many reviewers praised the film's intellectual vibe and authentic depiction of relationship anxieties, others found the comedy too serious and not very funny. Baumbach's knack for directing actors and creating amusing human dramas wasn't debated, even if many critics thought his style was perhaps too closely indebted to Woody Allen and Whit Stillman.

"The comedy of errors that ensues sometimes slides into Seinfeld territory -- not that there's anything wrong with that -- but the subtlety of the performances combined with graceful retro filmmaking touches and wry narration keep it well above sitcom level." —Sara Wildberger, Miami Herald

An adaptation of Don DeLillo's 1985 postmodern novel, Baumbach's 1984-set absurdist comedy-drama centers on the dysfunctional Gladney family, led by Greta Gerwig's Babette and Adam Driver's Jack. The latter is a professor whose fear of death is magnified by an "Airborne Toxic Event" that upends the family's suburban lives.

Critics were divided, often praising the big-budgeted film's ambition and clever dialogue as it tackled big themes of consumerism, media saturation, and mortality. Many found the film to be an exhilarating, wild ride, with Gerwig and Driver earning praise for their performances as the manic yet relatable couple who are trying to maintain control. But other reviewers felt the adaptation lacked the necessary emotional depth, finding it a strained, overlong, and often detached recitation of the book's ideas.

"There is no denying that this adaptation tries to tackle the central themes, but for some reason, it never really comes together in a way that genuinely satisfies." —Martin Carr, We Got This Covered

Nicole Kidman headlines this ensemble black comedy as the emotionally volatile and hypercritical Margot, who travels to a New England coastal town for the wedding of her estranged sister Pauline (Jennifer Jason Leigh). The film details the disastrous family reunion, marked by casual cruelty, mind games, and emotional breakdowns.

Critics widely praised the film's unflinching look at family dysfunction to a Chekhov story or the raw realism of John Cassavetes. The ensemble cast, including Leigh in a particularly strong performance, and a nuanced Jack Black, was lauded by some for bringing ferocious passion and biting dialogue to the emotionally cringey proceedings, while some critics tired of the same proceedings and annoyingly unlikable characters. 

"It's too bad Baumbach's movie is already shot, edited, and up there on the screen, because after a few rounds with a red pencil, it could really have been something worth watching." —Dana Stevens, Slate

Baumbach's latest film, Jay Kelly, is a Netflix dramedy that follows an aging Hollywood movie star (George Clooney) forced to confront the emotional wreckage of his past during a European film festival. The film, co-written with actress Emily Mortimer (who met Baumbach when her kids were cast in his White Noise adaptation), features an extensive ensemble cast, toplined by Adam Sandler as Jay's manager and Laura Dern as Jay's publicist.

Critics have been praising the cleverly crafted screenplay and the ensemble cast, with Sandler's nuanced and heartfelt work being singled out as co-MVP alongside Clooney. While reviewers appreciate the film's performances and its tender look at aging and celebrity, some feel the final product leaned too heavily into sentimentality, softening its overall impact.

"There's pleasure to be had from Sandler's nuanced work and from the ensemble's ridiculously deep bench of gifted supporting players. But the director's fourth feature for Netflix is mid-tier Baumbach at best." —David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

Noah Baumbach's directorial debut, Kicking and Screaming, is a witty comedy centered on a group of recent and directionless college graduates who are reluctant to leave the familiar comfort of campus life. The cast is led by Josh Hamilton as Grover, and also featured 1990s indie cinema legends Parker Posey (Party Girl) and Chris Eigeman (Metropolitan), as well as cameos by Elliot Gould and Eric Stoltz. The film details the characters' aimless, post-collegiate drift as they resist entering the real world, trading cynical barbs while remaining paralyzed by indecision.

Critics largely praised the film's sharp script and pitch-perfect dialogue, and noted Baumbach's ability to inject genuine poignancy and emotional truth into the characters' solipsistic rituals, resulting in a distinct pleasure and an auspicious debut that introduced a fresh voice in independent cinema.

"The director is more successful in setting an easy, low-key tone, with nicely framed shots and subtle camera movements downplaying the script's pretensions." —Greg Evans, Variety

Three years after Frances Ha, Baumbach reunited with actor, writer, and muse Greta Gerwig for the comedy Mistress America. Co-written by Gerwig, the film follows Tracy (Lola Kirke), a lonely college freshman who becomes instantly captivated by Gerwig's Brooke, her soon-to-be stepsister and an electrifying extrovert with grand plans to open a wildly ambitious café/salon/convenience store.

Critics praised the pairing of Gerwig's magnetic performance with Baumbach's direction of their witty, fast-paced dialogue, noting that the film was a modern reinvention of the screwball comedy. Reviewers hailed Gerwig as one of the great screen comedians of her generation, celebrating her kinetic authenticity and the unearned confidence that made Mistress America a joyous, if frantic, portrait of friendship and the struggle of self-discovery.

"This new-new Baumbach isn't necessarily better than the old-new Baumbach; 'Young' felt meatier, with a stronger sense of who its neurotic New Yorkers were. But that film didn't have Gerwig, bringing warmth, wit, and loopy star power to a character — a human bulldozer of incorrigible extroversion — as fictional as the Big Apple you see only on the big screen." —A.A. Dowd, The A.V. Club

In Greenberg, Ben Stiller stars as the titular Roger Greenberg, a misanthropic, self-absorbed, 40-year-old New Yorker reluctantly housesitting in Los Angeles. There, he begins a fragile and complicated relationship with Florence (Greta Gerwig), his brother's 20-something assistant.

Critics hailed the film as Baumbach's most mature, funny, and daring work to date. Stiller earned acclaim for his compelling dramatic turn as an unlikable yet self-mocking crank, while Gerwig's magnetic, heartbreaking performance was celebrated as a scene-stealing breakthrough, infusing the film with empathy and wonder. Praised for its razor-sharp humor and unflinching, humane portrait of lonely people struggling to connect, Greenberg marked a pivotal moment in Baumbach's career: his first collaboration with future creative partners Gerwig, Stiller, and composer James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, and his last with actress (and then soon-to-be ex-wife) Jennifer Jason Leigh, who also shares story credit.

"Mr. Baumbach has a knack for capturing real-life dialogue--particularly and hilariously how people tend not to listen to the person on the other side of the conversation." —Sara Vilkomerson, Observer

Midlife crisis movie While We're Young follows middle-aged documentary filmmaker Josh (Ben Stiller) and his wife Cornelia (Naomi Watts) as they abandon their familiar friends and attempt to revitalize their creative spark by integrating with a younger, seemingly more authentic hipster couple, Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried). The sharply satirical drama mines comedy from intergenerational tension, ambition, and aging.

Critics widely praised the film's intelligent script and its nuanced ensemble performances, particularly Stiller and Watts' complex portrayal of a couple reaching for the vitality of youth. The consensus celebrated the comedy as one of Baumbach's most widely appealing films to date, full of insightful truths about the anxieties that oscillate through decades. Curiously, Stiller, who starred in the 2007 The Heartbreak Kid remake, is here contentiously paired with original 1972 The Heartbreak Kid actor Charles Grodin, who plays his father-in-law. 

"Where he ends up going—a place of real anxiety and envy—speaks to the filmmaker's nervy ambitions. If this is Baumbach's commercial breakthrough, he will have made it several steps up that staircase with nothing lost." —Joseph Rothkopf, Time Out

After two decades of work in the world of independent cinema, Baumbach would begin a fruitful collaboration with Netflix with this ensemble dramedy about three estranged adult half-siblings—Danny (Adam Sandler), Matthew (Ben Stiller), and Jean (Elizabeth Marvel)—who reunite in New York to grapple with their eccentric, narcissistic father, Harold (Dustin Hoffman), an esteemed artist.

Critics hailed the film as a deeply humane, mature, and surprisingly warm-hearted take on family life and sibling rivalry. Baumbach was again praised for his witty, sharp dialogue and for eliciting great performances, particularly from Sandler, who gave one of his most authentic and affecting dramatic turns. The consensus was that while the film's premise was familiar ground for Baumbach, the raw emotion and compassionate treatment of its characters made it one of the best dramas of the year. This might be the closest we'll get to what Baumbach's unaired HBO pilot for Jonthan Franzen's book The Corrections would have been like given its thematic similarities. 

"It's a comedy that doesn't really have, or aspire to, any very tragic dimension, but it's touching. The quirks are underpinned by a heartfelt solidity." —Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

After appearing in Baumbach's Greenberg, Greta Gerwig reunited with the director to co-write and star in Frances Ha, a carefree yet melancholic black-and-white comedy-drama. The film follows Frances Halladay, a perpetually scattered 20-something aspiring dancer whose life unravels when her best friend and roommate, Sophie (Mickey Sumner), moves out to pursue a more stable path.

Gerwig's uninhibited, naturalistic performance was universally praised as charmingly awkward, deeply nuanced, and magnetic, earning her an outpouring of critical acclaim. Critics celebrated Frances Ha as a modestly effervescent cinematic gem, noting that Baumbach's most compassionate film since The Squid and the Whale offered an uncynical, eloquently funny portrait of friendship and the messy process of self-discovery in New York.

"Funny and touching, Frances Ha may very well be the most eloquent take yet on a generation in flux – a cinematic talk-back to so many Atlantic articles, minus the scolding and the statistics, and uncharacteristically (for Baumbach) uncynical." —Kimberley Jones, Austin Chronicle

After a prolonged absence from directing, during which he co-wrote The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou with Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach returned as writer-director with The Squid and the Whale, a semi-autobiographical, sharply comical, and heartbreaking drama set in 1980s Brooklyn. It follows the bitter divorce of two writers—narcissistic academic Bernard (Jeff Daniels) and rising novelist Joan (Laura Linney)—and the emotional fallout on their teenage sons, 16-year-old Walt (Jesse Eisenberg) and 12-year-old Frank (Owen Kline).

Critics hailed the film as a miracle of ruthless honesty and wit, often likening it to a literary novella for its psychological precision. Daniels earned acclaim for a career-best performance as the self-aggrandizing patriarch, while Eisenberg and Kline delivered haunting portrayals of children forced to take sides in a war they barely understand. Linney lends quiet depth to a role that, while underwritten, anchors the family's unraveling. The film was praised as excruciatingly painful yet exhilaratingly funny, leaving a raw, lasting impression.

"Without jerking tears or reducing the acid content of his wit, Baumbach's humane movie gets under your skin." —Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

This 2015 documentary, co-directed by Baumbach and Jake Paltrow, is a conversational, career-spanning interview with legendary and controversial filmmaker Brian De Palma. The film presents De Palma speaking directly to the camera, unfiltered, as he offers candid and humorous anecdotes about his life, working with actors, and the tumultuous journey of directing films like Carrie, Scarface, and Mission: Impossible.

Critics almost universally praised the documentary for its simple, bare-bones execution. The film's energy, humor, and endless flow of expertly chosen clips perfectly illustrate De Palma's mastery of visual storytelling and solidify his status as a cinematic visionary and a charmingly wicked raconteur. For more Baumbach/De Palma fun, check out the Criterion Collection editions of Dressed to Kill and Blow Out. 

"De Palma is a joy: a hit of garrulous cinephile cocaine so pure you want to do a Tony Montana, fall face-first into it and inhale it all in one go." —Jessica Kiang, The Playlist

Noah Baumbach's 2019 film Marriage Story is a deeply personal portrait of a family navigating a painful cross-country divorce starring Adam Driver as Charlie, a New York theater director, and Scarlett Johansson as Nicole, his actress wife. Critics hailed it as a triumph, praising Baumbach's incisive writing and unflashy direction, which let the raw, darkly funny complexity of the split feel achingly real. Driver and Johansson delivered career-best performances, while Laura Dern won Best Supporting Actress for her sharp turn as Nicole's lawyer. The film earned six Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Score.

Celebrated as an instant classic, Marriage Story remains tender and humane despite its vitriol. In hindsight, it's striking that Greta Gerwig's Barbie—co-written with Baumbach—would later surpass Marriage Story with eight Oscar nominations, marking a leap from their intimate comedic dramas to a full-fledged cultural phenomenon.

" At once funny, scalding, and stirring, built around two bravura performances of incredible sharpness and humanity, it's the work of a major film artist, one who shows that he can capture life in all its emotional detail and complexity — and, in the process, make a piercing statement about how our society now works." —Owen Gleiberman, Variety