Film: While We're Young

Noah Baumbach has been a director and writer who I have paid attention to over the last  decade.  His films usually have something unique and interesting to say about upper to middle class white people living in New York. It is no surprise that he  is often compared to Woody Allen.  While his work has been criticized by some for its  quirk and lack of diversity, I have always found most of his films have  a unique and entertaining perspective.  The Squid and the Whale and Frances Ha were two of my favorite films from their prospective years and Margot at the Wedding was a film that I admired. His eye is usually refreshing and his messages are interesting.

So begins While We're Young, a film that starts out latching onto the moment people who are entering middle age cling to staying young.  As a person entering that age bracket, it is not an feeling or situaton from which I am unfamiliar.   The film is about two couples: one middle aged played by Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts and one young played by Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried.  All of these actors have shown that they are capable of giving fine performances throughout their careers, and they all have their moments in this film.    After they meet, the older couple feels younger by being with the younger couple and they start doing things like taking hip hop dance classes, wearing hipster bowling hats and ignoring their age appropriate friends.   There is definitely something  interesting here trying to be said.  

But then the film decides it wants to say more and say something different.  It kind of becomes this treatise on documentary filmmaking.  It's begging the viewer to decide if the old way of filming documentaries is better than the new reality TV tinged way of doing it.   It's a fine conversation to have, but it never seems to really fit well with the rest of the film. Then add a little bit of middle aged baby angst, and finally an attempt to return to the middle age vs. youth themes it started with and you have a bit of a mess.  A mess that has its moments, but ultimately an unsatisfying mess.

5 out of 10