Muhammad Muzammal

Staff Writer

Over talkative and flawed in storytelling, Noah Baumbach’s “While We’re Young” is a failed parody of Annie Hall and the style of Alan Bell – an attempt at a witty comedy featuring yuppies who make extravagant, meaning-of-life statements. 

The problem with Baumbach’s film is that the grandiose statements are foolhardy and so becomes the film. The film has a weak inkling of the subgenre of films about aging and the seven-year itch. 

Documentarians Josh (Ben Stiller) and Cornelia (Naomi Watts) are a married couple in their forties who live an unexciting life while drifting through New York City. With all their friends having children and moving on to a more mature stage of life, Josh and Cornelia feel closed-in and distressed. In come hyper-energetic Jamie (Adam Driver) and playful Darby (Amanda Seyfried), two young adults in their twenties who seem to be compatible with Josh and Cornelia. Their friendship leads to a successful career path for Jamie, who’s not as innocent as he seems. 

The film attributes a purist brand of documentary filmmaking to Josh, which is contrasted with Jamie’s sly, lazy and fraudulent style of documentary. This is an interesting contrast that makes their relationship seem deeper than what can be found on the surface. 

In regards to age, the film carries a heavy pessimism about personality compatibility. It offers a fascinating commentary on an older couple’s desire to be young again, but becomes too negative about young and old couples forming friendships. 

Within the first 45 minutes, the film shoves the theme of youth envy down the audience’s throats. After that point, the film deconstructs Josh and Cornelia’s desire to be young again with satire. Darby and Jamie are looked at to be young and stupid, and for Josh and Cornelia, connecting with a younger couple seems socially wrong and humanly impossible. 

wThe second half of the film, which I won’t spoil, contains a convoluted twist that not only takes away the narrative simplicity of the film, but also adds a new, unneeded storyline. Baumbach’s film, which is funny in parts, fails as a whole because it feels unbalanced and emotionally hollow. The film’s emotional high point involves an interview that comes off as insincere, which we find out later is a clever trick. In short, this is a movie in need of a rewrite or at least a re-edit. 

The performances are crucial, since the material itself is a mix of zany banter, character-driven drama and social commentary. Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts play their same-age counterparts with cheek and a chip on the shoulder, portraying Josh and Cornelia as a couple unafraid to hang with the younger crowd. Seyfried is a sunny choice as Darby and Adam Driver is a good choice for the quiet, two-faced, overzealous Jamie. 

“While We’re Young” is a decent film. Its ambition far exceeds its reach with shallow attributions. The movie feels like a life lesson that doesn’t have a practical purpose behind it. Who says the old and young can’t connect?