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Once upon a time, the members of Generation X were young and cool. We wore flannel shirts and combat boots, and we listened to loud, angry music. But time moved on, and we were forced to grow up (or at least grow older). And in Noah Baumbach’s While We’re Young, a couple of Gen-Xers try to be young and hip again—with some hilariously disastrous results.
While We’re Young stars Ben Stiller as Josh, a struggling documentarian who’s been working on the same project for 10 years. But then he meets Jamie (Adam Driver), a 20-something hipster who’s eager to learn from Josh’s experience. As Josh and his wife, Cornelia (Naomi Watts), spend time with Jamie and his wife, Darby (Amanda Seyfried), they find themselves caught up in the young couple’s energy and enthusiasm—and quiet evenings with old friends give way to street parties and hip-hop dance classes. Their fun new lives pull them out of their rut and make them feel young again, until the couples’ differences—in age, in lifestyle, in philosophies—begin to rear their ugly heads.
While We’re Young tells a thoughtful—and sometimes wildly funny—story about what happens when we begin to realize that we no longer have our whole lives ahead of us. It’s about trying to cling to youth—even if it means wearing silly-looking hats or spending the weekend meditating with a shaman. But it’s also about facing the truth—and coming to the realization that it’s okay to grow and change.
Noah Baumbach has been known for making the kind of chatty films that tend to appeal to hipster audiences—but While We’re Young turns the tables, making light of both the younger characters’ sometimes calculated quirks and the older characters’ yearning to hold on to a lifestyle that they never really had.
These characters could be annoying: the self-obsessed 20-somethings and the 40-somethings who are clearly in denial. Yet the cast makes them entertaining and even endearing. Anyone who’s stared down The Big 4-0 will understand Josh and Cornelia’s fears that life is passing them by. While Stiller and Watts may look absolutely ridiculous in their characters’ attempts to look and act young, you’ll love them all the more for it. And it’s hard not to get caught up in the quirky energy and enthusiasm of Driver’s Jamie.
Admittedly, the story falls a bit flat in the end, but there’s so much going on here that you’ll barely notice. There’s more here than just two characters’ quest to be young and hip—and if you watch the film a dozen times, you’ll probably pick up on a new message with each new viewing.
While We’re Young is snappy and clever and hilariously observant. It’s the kind of movie that will make you laugh while it makes you think. And if you happen to be a reluctantly aging Gen-Xer, it might just make you feel a little bit better about facing the dreaded middle age.
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