• Reviews

• All
• Music
• DVDs
• Live
• Cinema
• TV
• Books
• Comic Books
• Video Games

Mar 26, 2015 By Shawn Hazelett Web Exclusive

Josh (Ben Stiller) and Cornelia (Naomi Watts) are a fortysomething couple caught between two stages of adulthood. While their Upper West Side peers have baby showers and christenings, they are without kids and are free to indulge in spontaneity—if not for the demands of Josh’s documentary, in year ten of a never-ending production. Enter Brooklyn twentysomething couple, Jamie and Darby. Inspired by their esoteric film knowledge to seek out the unknown documentarian, their energy and nose for trends endear themselves to their hip-deficient elders, who are more than willing to push against the biological grain.

What’s most fascinating about Noah Baumbach’s take on modern New York is the inverse correlation between trendiness and technology. Hobbies of bygone generations are appropriated by young adults, who favor board games and vinyl over iPhones and Facebook, presented here as a crutch for the middle-aged. Accurate or not, Baumbach has so much fun exploring these contrasts that it becomes too much of an infatuation, stalling and dulling the potential of a screenplay that eventually takes a smart turn and comes together in a way that’s surprising and fulfilling.

www.a24films.com/films/while-were-young

Author rating: 7/10