White Noise (2022)

Movie · 2022 · Comedy, Drama · 2h 16m · R · English

Curator score: 2.2/10 (244.3K ratings)

You can’t hear it if it's everywhere.

Overview

Jack Gladney, professor of Hitler studies at The-College-on-the-Hill, husband to Babette, and father to four children/stepchildren, is torn asunder by a chemical spill from a rail car that releases an "Airborne Toxic Event" forcing Jack to confront his biggest fear - his own mortality.

Ratings

Director

Noah Baumbach

Production

Heyday Films, NB/GG Pictures, A24

Cast

Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle, Raffey Cassidy, Sam Nivola, May Nivola, Jodie Turner-Smith, André 3000, Sam Gold, Carlos Jacott, Lars Eidinger, Bill Camp, Barbara Sukowa, Francis Jue, J. David Hinze, Gideon Glick, Madison Gaughan, Douglas Brodax, Carly Brodax, Jill Brodax

Where to watch

Netflix, Netflix Standard with Ads

Curator Review

Verdict

A sharp, strange, and frequently funny adaptation that turns apocalypse anxiety into deadpan family satire. It’s more interesting as an idea machine and mood piece than as a fully satisfying narrative, but the performances and visual invention make it worth a look if you enjoy offbeat, literary, genre-bending films.

Best for

  • Viewers who like absurdist satire and intellectual comedy
  • Fans of stylized, literary adaptations
  • People interested in existential dread, consumer culture, and media panic
  • Audiences open to slow-burn, deliberately artificial filmmaking

Skip if

  • You want a straightforward plot or emotional realism
  • You dislike tonal whiplash and self-conscious dialogue
  • You prefer tight, conventional disaster movies
  • You’re not in the mood for a film that values ideas over momentum

Overview

White Noise is a slippery, genre-hopping adaptation that treats catastrophe as both punchline and existential crisis. It has the deadpan rhythms of a family comedy, the visual scale of a disaster movie, and the chilly detachment of a museum piece about modern anxiety. That combination won’t work for everyone, but it gives the film a distinctive identity.

Top Letterboxd reviews

Jay (3★) · 7148 likes

adam driver standing in the corner at the party: they dont know im a leading expert on hitler studies

Karsten (3★) · 2866 likes

wish this was better, adam driver is the best comedic actor we have

roby (5★) · 2609 likes

The best episode of the Simpsons ever

Jeremy (4★) · 2171 likes

dawggg wtf happening in ohio bro 😭💀

davidehrlich (3.5★) · 1767 likes

You might think it would be strange to see a mega-budget Noah Baumbach movie complete with CGI explosions, a Spielbergian kind of holy terror, and even one sadistically drawn-out jump-scare dream sequence, but the oddest thing about “White Noise” is its persistent sense of déjà vu. Not just the déjà vu of watching such a faithful adaptation of any Great American Novel — although there’s plenty of that — but also the déjà vu that’s supposedly caused by exposure to… more You might think it would be strange to see a mega-budget Noah Baumbach movie complete with CGI explosions, a Spielbergian kind of holy terror, and even one sadistically drawn-out jump-scare dream sequence, but the oddest thing about “White Noise” is its persistent sense of déjà vu. Not just the déjà vu of watching such a faithful adaptation of any Great American Novel — although there’s plenty of that — but also the déjà vu that’s supposedly caused by exposure to… more

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Topics

absurdist satire, existential comedy, literary adaptation, apocalyptic anxiety, deadpan humor, family drama, consumerism, media culture, stylized filmmaking, black comedy

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