While We’re Young is the latest Ben Stiller comedy film which also stars Naomi Watts, Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried. The film was both written and directed by Noah Baumbach who has worked with Adam Driver before on another film called Frances Ha (2012). While We’re Young follows the story of a middle aged couple who are lacking excitement in their lives. But this all changes when they meet a younger couple and start hanging out with them and experience a lot of things that younger people do, such as eating avocado ice-cream.
While We’re Young Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_ylUUZoxcY
While We’re Young Review
In While We’re Young we follow Josh (Ben Stiller) who is a documentary filmmaker and also a teacher. Josh and his wife Cornelia (Naomi Watts) start going out on double dates with a younger couple, Jamie and his wife Darby (Amanda Seyfried). Josh and Cornelia start doing a lot of things that young people do and feel energized when they are around Jamie and Darby. One day Josh is approached by Jamie (Adam Driver) with an idea to film a documentary about Facebook friends. Josh reluctantly agrees and the film turns out to appear better than his own and it makes him jealous. How could this be? Is everything legitimate?
I have not seen really any of the films from Noah Baumbach and this is really the first one I’ve seen in full, but I thought it was an interesting one to watch. The films tone is comedic and a lot of the jokes are observational ones that you laugh at as you go through. While We’re Young does feel like a hipster type of film though and while I don’t mind hipster’s I thought it was worth a mention. All of the film is fun to watch but one scene involved watching all the characters go to a strange place and drink something out of cup which resulted in watching a lot of them vomit. This scene felt dragged on and went forever, if it wasn’t for this, While We’re Young would have been much better.
The acting in While We’re Young was quite good and the performances from Ben Stiller and Adam Driver were particularly enjoyable. Both actors are funny in their own way and delivered a performance to match the quality of the films tone. Naomi Watts and Amanda Seyfried were also very entertaining as well. Although Amanda Seyfried possibly didn’t have enough screen time and kind of disappeared after about half way through the film.
The films plot is interesting, although the theme of people getting old and wanting to be young is fairly obvious and there’s only so much that can be done with that. But While We’re Young does have some good meaning here and there about life at different stages based on age. Really when looking at the film there are characters to fit all ages and all at different stages of their lives and they’re all dealing with different things. It seems that each stage in life has its own challenges and for me that was a nice meaning coming of the film. While We’re Young does have a satisfying ending and all characters seemed well developed once everything was over. As I mentioned before and I’ll mention it again, Noah Baumbach has an interesting film here and based on how films have been in the last few weeks, this stands out as one of the better ones.
While We’re Young is however a film that’s not necessarily going to blow everyone away, but it’s not one that will disappoint either. It’s in a good middle ground and saying it’s “good” is probably the best descriptor of the films quality. The only issue is really the vomiting scene which wasn’t that great, but there are many funny moments and I did chuckle here and there quite a lot when watching this.
Overall this film is definitely worth watching if you’re a Ben Stiller fan or a fan of Naomi Watts, Amanda Seyfried or Adam Driver because all the actors delivered some very entertaining performances. It’s a good film with a nicely written plot that remains interesting throughout and a great theme with a good message in the end. While it may not be a film to say you should run out and see at the cinema as soon as you can, it’s definitely worth renting. But if you’re looking for a light comedy film this week or something decent to watch, it’s one of the better choices this month.
