Ben
Stiller and Naomi Watts star as Josh and Cornelia Schrebnick, a pair of
forty-something New Yorkers who work in documentary filmmaking and have
become dissatisfied with their lives and each other. Josh, once a
promising young director, has been trying to finish an ambitious project
for years, and also teaches at a local college. In one of his classes
he meets Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried), a
twenty-something couple who the Schrebnicks befriend and become
fascinated with. Josh becomes caught up in trying to be a mentor figure
to Jamie, while simultaneously struggling with his own insecurities
about his work and his relationships with Cornelia and her father Leslie
(Charles Grodin), a famous filmmaker.
I like
Ben Stiller as Josh Schrebnick, and I haven't liked Ben Stiller in much
of anything in years. Here, I found him completely relatable,
sympathetic, and easy to root for, even though Josh is in many ways the
kind of self-centered New York intellectual that commonly populate Noah
Baumbach films, and have left me cold in the past. While Roger
Greenberg stubbornly resisted change, Josh is very aware of his own
inadequacies, and eager to embrace what he views as a possible way out
of his rut - connecting to the new generation. It's a lot of fun
watching him try to throw himself into Millennial culture, only to
realize that he's simply not equipped for it. You can't get more
obvious about your themes than your main character literally trying on a
new hat - but it's all in how he wears the hat. And in "While We're
Young," the generational divide was never more gently, poignantly mined
for so many laughs.
The whole ensemble is
great. Every character feels so lived-in, every performance so unfussy
and unconstrained. Naomi Watts has less screen time than I was hoping
for, but she gets some great scenes trying to navigate Mommy cults and
hip-hop classes, before getting to the tender stuff with Stiller.
Grodin and Seyfried are decidedly minor players, but make the most of
their appearances. And then there's Adam Driver, who practically runs
away with the whole movie. This is the most substantial role I've seen
him in to date, and he's a perfect embodiment of all the things that
everyone seems to love and hate about Millennials. They're charismatic,
enlightened, DIYers who aren't scared of trying new things! They have
no respect for personal boundaries and promote lax morals! They're
insufferably pretentious! Or model egalitarians! Or both!
As a
viewer right smack between both of the couples in age, I'm in a good
position to sympathize with both positions. "While We're Young"
definitely keeps the POV with Stiller and Watts' characters, marveling
at the weird and wacky activities the younger pair enjoy, while also
bemoaning the encroaching afflictions of middle-age. Most of Baumbach's
films are semi-autobiographical, and here he's clearly feeling his
age. However, he does it in a way that's very universal and inclusive.
It never feels like he's making generalizations or writing anyone off.
Topics of discussion range from fatherhood to career woes to changing
social mores, and in the second half of the film, right when I was least
expecting it, the story took a turn and we wound up somewhere
completely different. The plot sort of sneaks up on you in this movie,
which doesn't happen often anymore.
I found
this to be a very easy watch - briskly paced and sharply written. The
humor was a little broader than usual, including a sequence at an
absurd ayahuasca ceremony that is flat-out the funniest thing I've seen
this year. For Baumbach newbies, especially those of a certain age, I
think I'm going to recommend starting with this one. His early
career sharpness has mellowed into something warmer and more empathetic,
which I like very much. And "While We're Young" is the closest
thing to a crowd-pleaser he's ever made.
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