Review of While We're Young (2015) by Heatherm — 11 Apr 2015

While We're Young is an interesting look at two couples who are both in very different places in their lives and their marriages. The early lead-up scenes as Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts get to know this compelling younger couple are the most entertaining--they manage to make fun of the younger generation in a really clever way, that pokes fun and exaggerates without becoming a complete parody. I especially enjoyed the conversations between Naomi Watts and Amanda Seyfried, as they discussed their perspectives on motherhood and how their friends change when they have children.

Towards the end, however, the movie became much more about the working relationship between the two men, Ben Stiller and Adam Driver, who are both filmmakers--the older man has been on a downward career trajectory because of an unfinished documentary, while Adam Driver's character is a young up-and-comer. While I understand that the plot turn to focus on their film makes for a dramatic conclusion to the movie, I found it much less interesting and I was fairly disappointed that the movie turned to focus on the male characters, leaving the women on the sidelines. Their characters were interesting and well-developed early on, and I thought it was a waste that they weren't filled out any more in the last half of the movie. I was much more interested in their characters, and in the marital dynamics of the individual couples, than I was interested in the clash of egos that the ending focused on. Also, while I don't want to spoil the ending, I thought that the final few minutes of the film did not at all make sense with the rest of it, which also detracted from my enjoyment of the movie. Despite the problems I have with the ending, I still enjoyed the movie, and it's a reasonably fun and clever comedy.