Writer/Director Noah Baumbach’s While
We’re Young starts out great with the story of a 40-something couple
(Naomi Watts and Ben Stiller), who meets a 20-something couple (Amanda Seyfried
and Adam Driver), and develops a friendship that rejuvenates them.
The interesting thing is that the young
couple is living a retro (pre-computer) existence and the older couple is swept
up in the digital life. It’s both
refreshing and fun to watch the changes that occur.
However, half way through the film, Baumbach’s
script takes a hard left turn and gives us a new story of how the younger
couple is conning their elders in order to get an intro to the Stiller
character’s father, an aging documentarian admirably played by Charles Grodin.
The Stiller character becomes a totally
unlikeable jerk. Of course, it’s what’s
written, but, unfortunately, Stiller is to drama what Stallone is to
comedy. It doesn't work and we feel, somehow, violated. If it weren’t for Watts, Seyfried
and Grodin, this could have been a complete disaster.
As it is, While We’re Young is
reduced to a 3 out of 5.
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