Acclaimed indie auteur Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale, Frances Ha) has created another witty and exploratory comedy-drama with While We’re Young, here reuniting with his Greenberg star Ben Stiller, who plays documentary filmmaker Josh, married to Naomi Watts’ Cornelia.
They’re a somewhat neurotic couple considering their future – while most of their friends have had children, they’re still unsure, becoming ever more aware that their lives are fleeting and their remaining choices, limiting – when they meet carefree Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried), a pair of bohemian, louche 20-somethings whose hipster cool they find endlessly appealing. But is their friendship the real deal or are Josh and Cornelia just trying to avoid grappling with the actualities of middle-age?
A film about generational envy, career dissatisfaction, the pain of missed opportunities, and full of very Woody Allen-ish angst and wit, Baumbach’s insightful, sparklingly funny film is a pleasure to watch.