4 stars out of 5
Don DeLillo’s White Noise, from 1985, is considered one of the great satirical novels of modern literature. I finally got around to reading it 3 years ago. In summing up my thoughts in my Goodreads review, I said that while I didn’t think it was a masterpiece, I found the book to be “wonderfully enjoyable.” And I’ll basically say the same about Noah Baumbach’s film adaptation: not amazing but really good, and a whole lot of fun.
Baumbo often comes across as a Woody wannabe and in that spirit he brings back many of his regular players: Adam Driver as the dad, Greta Gerwig as the mom, Dean & Britta singing in a campground, even LCD Soundsystem bust out their first new song in 5 years for the end credits. And while the set-up is pure Woody — Driver is an esteemed professor of Hitler Studies at the College on the Hill, hobnobbing with his academia colleagues (including André 3000!) — DeLillo’s story takes Noah on a more middle-class American voyage, skewering consumerism, blended families, the medical establishment, media sensationalism, etc. Baumbach keeps the mid-80s time frame, perhaps just to goof around with wardrobe and production design.
Same as in the novel, a plot twist brings an Airborne Toxic Event and resultant public panic to the region. (In this section of the film, Baumbach even gets to indulge his inner Spielberg.) And while this seemed more relevant during my 2019 read than during the book’s initial writing, try watching this health scare play out after 3 years of a global pandemic whydoncha!!
Driver does a nice job vacillating between being overconfident and terrified; he’s having a good time here. Gerwig has a crazy hairdo and is terrified but not confident while sadly trying to fit in as a pill-popping suburban mom. Of the multiple kids I’ll single out the strong performance by Raffey Cassidy as the sleuthing eldest daughter.
The novel didn’t really have a plot and neither does the movie but I think you’ll like it more than the older woman behind me who kept saying “What’s going on? This is weird!” There are some good laughs and things to think about and if you don’t want to drag yourself to the theater, it’s a Netflix production so you can soon watch it on your phone — that’s modern American convenience!
Jack Silbert, curator