"While We're Young" Review

“While We’re Young” is a film that explores universally relatable themes of aging, truth, and pride.  The story focuses on Josh (Ben Stiller) and Cornelia (Naomi Watts), a middle-aged married couple that desperately attempts to avoid the inevitable burdens that accompany the aging process.  Josh teaches by night and attempts to produce earnest documentaries that prioritze adherence to truth above all else. Fletcher (Adam Horovitz) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried), a young and vivacious hipster couple, sit in on one of Josh’s classes and Fletcher introduces himself as a fan of Josh’s first, more critically acclaimed, documentary.  When the two couples dine out together, Josh and Cornelia are enthralled by Fletcher and Darby’s carefree spontaneity, while Fletcher and Darby appreciate how their older and more well-off counterparts can foot the dinner bill.  The film explores the evolving aspects of the relationship and the professional careers of Josh and Fletcher.

No other film I’ve seen has captured the hipster ethos more accurately than “While We’re Young.”  Brooklyn, VHS tapes, vinyl records, fedoras, skinny jeans, and beach parties in the city streets characterized Fletcher and the effect Fletcher has on Josh. This hipster motif provided great opportunities for Stiller to flex his comedic muscles, which were unfortunately underwhelming.  The hip-hop dance classes Darby attends may or may not be hipster influenced (I’m no authority on hipster culture).  Regardless, Cornelia, who is the only one in her circle of ‘older’ friends to not have a child and is growing apart from the baby-crazy moms, attends a dance class with Darby rather than sitting through another enervating mommy-baby musical sing-alongs with her aforementioned circle of friends.

A unique soundtrack that includes orchestral string music in addition to classics “Hit Em Up” by Tupac and “Buggin Out” by A Tribe Called Quest helps compensate for a visually dull cinematic experience.  Aside from the hustle and bustle of a few city scenes, the film forgoes engaging aesthetics in favor of dialogue.  And while the dialogue offers insight by punctuating the film’s themes, many of the conversations seemed contrived to achieve that very purpose.   It was not believable for the characters, within the context of their situations, to carry out such philosophical ramblings. 

Peter Yarrow did a phenomenal job playing the role of Cornelia’s father and legendary documentarian that Josh both respected and resented.  The narrative contained commentary on society’s abuse of technology, a wrinkle I’m a sucker for.  But ultimately the film flamed out in the second half, which was fraught with unbelievable scenes and accentuated by a climax containing cheesy 80s synth music.  The sound mixing was distractingly wretched throughout the entire movie.  I wanted to like “While We’re Young.”  The relatable themes provided a foundation for what should have been a more interesting story, and although there were redeeming qualities, the cumulative flaws were unforgivable.

                                                                             2/4 Stars