Review of While We're Young (2015) by Chrisanne C — 01 Aug 2015

Review:

It's not very often that Ben Stiller comes out with a movie and it doesn't get the big distribution treatment so I was quite surprised when I saw this film on DVD. I liked the concept at the beginning, when it shows the elderly couple using today's technology and the younger couple using alternatives like records except for CDs but the movie goes downhill once the whole "making of the documentary" aspect comes into play. Anyway, it's about a documentary maker whose spent 10 years trying to make a movie but he has hit a brick wall. At one of his speeches in a school, he comes across a couple who becomes friends with him and his wife. After a while, Josh (Stiller) and Cornelia (Watts) start changing there life's to become more organic like the younger couple who have a free spirit and a care free look on life. You then see the two couples become quite close and Stiller gets inspiration from the younger couple to finish his documentary. At the same time Jamie (Adam Driver) is making his own movie, which he uses Stiller to create. You then realise that Jamies motives were always geared towards making his film and that there relationship wasn't as random as it first seemed. I enjoyed the buddy concept of the movie and I liked how the two different generations found something in common but the storyline took a turn for the worse once Stiller started to put the pieces together, only to find out that he was being used by his new found friend. I also found the dry humour quite boring and there wasn't much depth to the characters. Personally, I think the director didn't get the most out of a good cast, especially Seyfried who hardly said a word through the whole film. Overall, it's a watchable film which does have a couple of sweet scenes, when the couples first meet up, but the script needed a lot of work and I didn't find it that entertaining after a while. Average!

Round-Up:

At 49 years old, Ben Stiller has made over 100 movies which have nearly grossed $3 Billion, so he's definitely a big player in Hollywood. With Zoolander 2 and Rentaghost in the pipeline, I doubt that this low budget movie will hurt his career that much. I didn't find his performance in this film, that different from a lot of his other movies and I do find his mannerisms and jokes are very similar, which questions his range as an actor. Naomi Watts, 46, shot to fame after her role in the Ring in 2002 and she has starred in some big budget movies like Birdman, The Impossible, J.Edgar and King Kong so she is also a bankable star in Hollywood at the moment. I liked her Hip Hop dancing in this film and she did put in quite a decent performance but the script didn't bring the best out of her. The film was directed by Noah Baumbach who brought you movies like Frances Ha, which I enjoyed, Greenberg, which I didn't really like and Margot at the Wedding so he's known for his warped dramas. I was hoping for a bit more from this film, especially after enjoying the beginning but I was quite disappointed with the outcome.

Budget: $10million.

Worldwide Gross: $11million.

I recommend this movie to people who are into their comedy/dramas about a documentary maker who becomes best friends with with a younger film maker who uses him to gain fame. 4/10.