Hannah Takes the Stairs

Directed by Joe Swanberg, Hannah Takes the Stairs follows Greta Gerwig’s title character as she attempts to find herself in the wake of a breakup. It’s appealing subject matter that’s slowly-but-surely squandered by Swanberg, as the filmmaker, armed with a script written alongside Kent Osborne and Gerwig, delivers an often distractingly low-rent endeavor that is, at least, initially offset by Gerwig’s charming, relaxed performance, and there’s little doubt, as well, that the fly-on-the-wall atmosphere does ensure that the movie feels like an authentic look at a twentysomething’s relationship struggles. (The inclusion of a fairly captivating breakup sequence early on only perpetuates this vibe.) Hannah Takes the Stairs‘ eventual transformation into a seriously (and aggressively) underwhelming piece of work is, as a result, rather disappointing, to put it mildly, as the picture’s meandering, uneventful sensibilities, coupled with Swanberg’s amateurish, far-from-cinematic visuals, pave the way for a fairly interminable second half that peters out to a disastrous extent – with the abrupt, unsatisfying final stretch confirming the film’s place as a distressingly half-baked endeavor that could (and should) have been so much better.

*1/2 out of ****