Director: Noah Baumbach.
Cast: Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts, Adam Driver, Amanda Seyfried, Charles Grodin, Brady Corbet.
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 97 minutes
Synopsis: A middle-aged couple befriend a couple in their 20s.
WHILE WE’RE YOUNG has one of those annoyingly vague titles that just knows everybody will relate to it in some way. The ‘We’re’ is a universal we, and already the film is trying far too hard to include the audience before the reels even begin to roll. Baumbach’s latest manages to be both a funny and charming look at aging, and also a condescending pile of drivel too. It’s quite the accomplishment, but something more and more films aimed at the middle ages are doing.
Stiller and Watts play a married couple without a child. Although their close friends, recently with, are the annoying types who declare how their lives have suddenly changed and were incomplete beforehand, our heroic duo instead gravitate towards a young couple. This young pair make their own ice-cream, have street barbecues, and have a hen in their apartment. To label them as hipsters would be far too easy, but it isn’t without merit.
At first, the film is very balanced, considered, and astute. The observational humour constantly hits all ages over the head, playfully criticising certain ideals and ideas. The performances bring alive likable characters searching for concrete identities. The comparison of ages is often hilarious, whether it be highlighted by quick or disbelieving dialogue, or just a quick visual cue. Stiller is on form as a man child swept up in a new way of life, while Watts adds great support as the loving wife who takes a little while longer to come around. It’s Driver’s magnetic personality that excels throughout, however. It’s easy to see why Stiller is so enamoured by him, as he probably wins over most of the audience too.
It’s with both annoyance and disappointment then, that it must be said how the film soon loses its way. Not content with being a film that takes jabs at all concerned, it soon reveals a series of ulterior motives for the sake of trying to make things more interesting. This completely changes the outlook of the characters and their eventual arcs, soon resting on tired notions of what is expected from ‘adults’ and ‘the youth’. Like so many films, it is afraid of suggesting that perhaps alternative ways of living can be just as rewarding and enjoyable as a regular marriage/career/kids life. Instead you get something that is very generic and kind of cowardly.
A success for the most part, WHILE WE’RE YOUNG soon loses its way and relaxes its firm grip on what it wants to satirise and explore. Baumbach’s script represents a culmination of his career so far, meaning we get all the good from the best of his work with Wes Anderson, as well as his less subtle efforts of his own. Maybe it’s time that Hollywood distanced themselves from trying to tackle the midlife void of your average American, and focused their efforts elsewhere. Confused and muddled it may be, but when at its best, it’s a very recommendable affair.
WHILE WE’RE YOUNG is released on 3rd April.
