Josh Greenbaum takes foolish characters seriously, which gives his broad comedies an unexpected sweetness. We like that generosity, but Strays exposes how little it can do when the same few jokes keep coming round.
Fi1m perspective
A Great Dane wearing a plastic cone gazes into the lens in Strays (2023), and Josh Greenbaum holds the shot. We laughed because he gives us time to look at the animal before anyone starts talking. That patience is one of his useful comic instincts, although the rest of the film is rather less willing to leave a good thing alone.
His route into feature comedy ran through television and documentaries. His television credits include New Girl (2011), a programme we rate for its friendships rather than its overworked romantic plotting. His feature documentaries began with The Short Game (2013), followed by Becoming Bond (2017) and Too Funny to Fail (2017). The last of those, about The Dana Carvey Show, makes the move into narrative comedy seem less of a departure.
Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021) was his first narrative feature, written by and starring Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo. Its silliness came with a sincerity that caught us off guard. Greenbaum’s willingness to let comedians play the drama straight and allow the circumstances to be funny helps explain why that combination works.
Strays keeps that affection but loses the invention. Tim Orr shoots the real dogs at their height in ordinary suburban daylight, borrowing the look of the wholesome dog films Greenbaum is mocking. Aaron Osborne’s production design makes the city scruffy enough for the dogs to belong there. Those choices work, but the same few jokes keep returning until the pleasure wears off. The friendship remains sweet, which makes the lack of fresh material more frustrating.
Will & Harper (2024), a road-trip documentary with Will Ferrell, took him back to non-fiction. His collaborative approach gives actors and documentary subjects room to improvise, a useful habit provided someone also knows when there is nothing more to gain from a joke. Start with Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar; approach Strays with a tolerance for repetition.
Biography
Josh Greenbaum is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He was born on 15 February 1979 in Saratoga Springs, New York, and studied at Cornell University and the University of Oxford before dropping out of the MFA programme at the University of Southern California to pursue a career in film.
Greenbaum is known for his work in both documentary and narrative features. His documentary The Short Game (2013) won the SXSW Audience Award and was acquired by Netflix. He also directed Becoming Bond (2017), Too Funny to Fail and the Peabody Award-winning Will & Harper (2024). His narrative feature debut was Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021), and he directed the comedy Strays (2023).
He has directed episodes of television series including New Girl, Fresh Off the Boat and Single Parents. Greenbaum has won an Emmy Award, an MTV Movie Award and a CINE Golden Eagle Award.
