Movie Review: 'While We’re Young' is a heartwarming film

Genre: Comedy Drama

Rating: ***

Language: English

Cast: Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts, Adam Driver, Amanda Seyfried

Director: Noah Baumbach

Ben Stiller and Noah Baumbach quite complement each other. While their last outing together, Greenberg, was a delicate balance of meandering plotlines, here, they rein it in and plod along nicely on hipster terrain. Baumbach focuses on the NYC where folded mom jeans are everywhere, Lionel Richie and ‘Eye of The Tiger’ are cool and young hipsters have figured out life better than their older counterparts.

It begins with 40-somethings Josh and Cornelia (Stiller and Campbell) whose close friends have just had a baby and moved into a different plane. While they are still debating the merits of their choice of not having a kid (it’s a recurring plot point), Josh is struggling on his own with his decade-old unfinished documentary.

Seeking to replicate the success of his famous father-in-law, also a documentarian, Josh runs into Jamie (Driver with his Bohemian hats), who claims to want to learn from him. However, the dynamic is soon flipped on his head and Josh is mesmerised by the breezy-do-as-youplease lifestyle of Jamie and his wife Darby (Seyfried); he even pulls in his wife into all the cuckoo activities. As Cornelia succinctly explains, “They have all the stuff I threw out years ago, only in their house, it looks cool.” Crisp dialogues and steady storytelling keep it going till we fall headfirst into a project that Jamie starts and realise that all may not be what it seems.

Stiller has nuanced his craft over the years and here, unlike his Greenberg character, he is likeable. Driver, meanwhile, unloads tons of charisma as he plays the twitchy, aspirational and ultimately ambitious social climber. Others play to their strengths and create intimate portraits. Yet, as the film traipses to its conclusion, you realise the problem. Baumbach has managed to bring you to the climax, but he hasn’t figured out how to make it satisfactory. A heartwarming and honest film throughout, it leaves you with a tepid ending and the feeling of being let down.

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