3.5 stars. Rated R, for profanity
By Derrick Bang
Getting older is difficult
enough, in terms of physical and emotional challenges, without having to worry
about the need to remain “relevant.”
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| In the aftermath of a truly silly consciousness-raising experience, Josh (Ben Stiller) and Cornelia (Naomi Watts) attempt to make sense of the previous evening, to determine whether any useful insight might have been achieved. Sadly, they've a ways to go before any genuinely helpful epiphanies. |
Perversely, though, that issue
has become more challenging in our modern world, with cultural and
technological imperatives changing not by the decade, not even by the year, but
at times — seemingly — by the month. More than ever before, it feels like only
agile young minds have a hope of keeping up.
But is “keeping up” really that important?
Intellectual obsolescence is the
core issue of Noah Baumbach’s newest character study, but the writer/director
actually has much more on his mind. Part comedy, part drama and all biting social
commentary, While We’re Young is a
perceptive take on 21st century fortysomethings who worry that life is passing
them by ... or, worse yet, long ago left town on the last bus.
Mid-life crises are nothing new,
of course; every generation crosses this more-or-less halfway point with
varying degrees of the same angst. But Hollywood didn’t really discover the
genre until 1955’s The Seven Year Itch,
and most of the topic’s classics are more recent: 1973’s Save the Tiger, 1979’s Manhattan,
1999’s American Beauty and 2004’s Sideways come quickly to mind.
While We’re Young definitely belongs in their
company. Baumbach has an unerring ear for troubled interpersonal dynamics,
dating back to his Oscar-nominated script for 2005’s The Squid and the Whale. That said, some of his subsequent films —
however insightful — spent too much time with unpalatable or downright
mean-spirited characters; it’s difficult to embrace any message when delivered by, say, the misanthropic title
character in Greenberg.
But Baumbach’s approach has been
gentler of late, starting with the forlorn misfit played so winningly by Greta
Gerwig, in 2012’s Frances Ha. Maybe
it’s because Baumbach is gaining maturity not merely as a filmmaker, but also
as a person; it can’t be accidental that he’s the same age as his protagonists
in While We’re Young, definitely his
kindest — and therefore more approachable — film to date.
We meet Josh (Ben Stiller) and
Cornelia (Naomi Watts) as they nervously try to interact with a newborn: not
theirs, as we quickly discover, but the first child of best friends Fletcher
and Marina (Adam Horovitz and Maria Dizzia). As displayed so expressively by
Watts — Cornelia tries, but doesn’t quite succeed, to hide her agitation — this
moment is a crisis, and not merely because it revives painful memories of their
own failed attempts to have children.
No, it’s a crossroads. Just as
marriage leaves still-single friends feeling isolated, new parents with kids
instantaneously join yet another social clique that simply doesn’t allow for
childless members ... no matter how polite the lip-service.
Just like that, Josh and Cornelia
feel left out.
