While We're Young

Middle-age is strange, and it’s getting stranger. Believe me, I know this as a man of [REDACTED] years. 

While the need to hit all the markers one traditionally touched upon to be a fully fledged adult – marriage, kids, home ownership, consistency of career – has either been rendered non-essential or made really difficult, the innate urge to consider yourself grown-up and conduct yourself as such still exists. 

Add to this resentment of all the fun the kids seem to be having and a natural fear of becoming an old person yelling at clouds (thank you, Simpsons!), and it’s little wonder the midlife crisis remains, as they say, a thing.

Noah Baumbach’s new film, While We’re Young, explores all of this, and does so with a spry, nimble wit that doesn’t diminish its insight or intelligence. 

Josh (Ben Stiller striking a fine balance between his trademark neuroticism and something a little more melancholic) and Cornelia (Naomi Watts, who really should be in everything ever) are mid-40s New Yorkers wrestling with minor personal and professional frustrations, who get a new lease on life when they become friends with 20-something hipster couple Jamie (Girls’ Adam Driver, reinforcing his position as one of the most interesting young actors around) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried, whose slyly clever work enlivens an underwritten role).

It seems like the perfect interaction of generations – Josh and Cornelia feel re-energised by hanging with the youngsters, while Jamie and Darby benefit from the wisdom and experience of their elders (Josh is a documentary filmmaker, while Jamie has aspirations to do likewise). But can they really connect, or does everyone involved have ulterior motives?

Writer-director Baumbach (Greenberg, Frances Ha) occasionally overplays the generation gap aspect for the sake of a laugh – to his credit, the gags are pretty funny – but more often than not While We’re Young deals with self-image and self-awareness, not to mention the pleasures and pitfalls of acting one’s age, very well.