Max Greenfield makes fussy, self-important men worth spending time with by letting us see how anxious they are. His timing is precise, but it is the vulnerability beneath Schmidt’s vanity in New Girl that makes us rate him.
Fi1m perspective
Schmidt is terribly concerned with how he comes across, and Max Greenfield makes the concern as funny as the vanity. In New Girl (2011), his self-importance has enough anxiety behind it to keep us interested in a man who could easily become exhausting. We warmed to him because Greenfield lets that anxiety show without stopping the comedy to ask for sympathy. He plays the fussiness with precise comic timing. This is a strong comic performance in a programme that improves when its other characters have more to do.
New Girl was the breakthrough after guest and recurring television work, and the subsequent casting has often kept Greenfield close to quirky, self-regarding comic men. What Men Want (2019) belongs to that pattern. It is understandable casting, though the anxiety that makes Schmidt bearable matters as much as his fussiness. The lead part of Dave Johnson in The Neighborhood (2018) kept ensemble sitcoms central to his work, while supporting film appearances included The Big Short (2015) and Promising Young Woman (2020). Those credits broaden the list, but Schmidt remains the performance on which our enthusiasm rests.
Elizabeth Meriwether’s New Girl also gives him useful company in Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson and Lamorne Morris. Johnson’s Nick Miller is funny through discomfort without pushing every response, which gives Greenfield’s more energetic comedy something quieter to play against. With Morris’s Winston Bishop helping to carry the exchanges, the programme need not make everyone a reaction to Deschanel’s Jess. Schmidt’s self-regard is more enjoyable when the programme allows the supporting players to entertain us without advancing a romance. The friendships give us a reason to return even when the romantic plotting starts to feel like work for everyone involved.
The caution is that a gift for making these men tolerable can encourage more of the same casting. His darker work in American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace (2018) is a useful reminder that the sitcom parts do not account for everything he can do. Start with New Girl for the friendships, and be prepared to forgive some overworked romantic plotting.
Biography
Max Greenfield is an American actor. He is known for playing Schmidt in the Fox sitcom New Girl (2011–2018), for which he received nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards, the Golden Globe Awards and the Critics' Choice Television Awards. Since 2018 he has portrayed Dave Johnson in the CBS sitcom The Neighborhood.
Greenfield has appeared in recurring roles in Veronica Mars and Ugly Betty, and guest roles in series including Greek, The Mindy Project and American Horror Story. His film credits include The Big Short (2015), The Glass Castle (2017), Shot Caller (2017) and Promising Young Woman (2020). He has also provided voice work for BoJack Horseman, Bob's Burgers and the Ice Age franchise.
