Netflix’s R-Rated Disaster Comedy Cures Your Fear Of Death

By Robert Scucci
| Published 14 seconds ago

Have you ever watched a movie so shamelessly bizarre that your brain can’t even keep up with your eyeballs? 2022’s White Noise offers that experience, and I still can’t get over how much it has to say while also saying nothing at all. At its core, it’s a film about overcoming your fear of death, but it takes a long time to get there. What’s twisted about White Noise is how it delivers its message through melodrama and absurdity, each escalation met with perplexed glances and childlike curiosity.

I still don’t know what White Noise is about, but it makes you feel things, and it’s really funny. That’s all there really is to it. It’s a visceral experience that makes you laugh. The subject matter is heavy, but I found myself smiling more often than not while watching it.

Hitler, Elvis, And A Poisonous Cloud

Adam Driver is Jack Gladney in White Noise, the founder of a Hitler studies program at an Ohio university. Working at the same university, Don Cheadle’s Murray Siskind asks for Jack’s help developing a field of study based on his own burning passion project, Elvis studies. These guys basically rant about life, using their respective fields as a launching point for conversations about life, death, fame, and legacy. Jack doesn’t speak a lick of German, but he’s trying to teach himself because he’s slated to host a conference attended by a primarily German audience.

Jack’s family life in White Noise is chaotic to say the least. He and his fourth wife, Babette (Greta Gerwig), have four kids: two from Jack’s previous marriages, one from Babette’s, and one they conceived together. They love to eat chili chicken, and they’re all wrapped up in their own bizarre academic pursuits. When Babette’s daughter Denise (Raffey Cassidy) discovers that she’s taking an unlisted drug known as Dylar, Jack goes on heightened alert. He cares deeply about Babette and doesn’t want her keeping secrets from him. His concern comes from the right place, but he’s so wrapped up in his university job and German lessons that he can’t be everywhere at once.

Jack is also disturbed by strange dreams about a man talking about the fear of death, but he doesn’t have much time to dwell on them after a nearby train crash releases toxic waste, resulting in an Airborne Toxic Event that forces the entire community to quarantine at a local abandoned summer camp until it’s safe to return home. Jack, fearing he was exposed to the cloud, begins experiencing symptoms like deja vu and an overwhelming fear of his own mortality, while Babette sinks further into herself, using the mysterious drug as a way to cope with life.

More Vibe Than Substance

White Noise is one of those movies you just need to lean into when you’re feeling a little silly. It’s existential and will make you think about your own mortality. But it also features Adam Driver wearing Yoko Ono sunglasses while ranting about Hitler at a liberal arts college, with his students completely enthralled, unironically, by his enthusiasm. The Gladney kids are chaotic and always scheming, but they’re so well intentioned that you can’t help but love them. Everything about White Noise is dialed in to feel as unhinged as possible. You’ll feel things while taking it all in, but you’ll also be left confused, wondering what the hell you just watched.

If that’s the kind of viewing experience you’re looking for, you can stream White Noise on Netflix.