Review of While We're Young (2015) by Héliø L — 28 Jul 2015

While We're Young is the story of a middle aged couple, played by Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts, who simultaneously have a mid-life crisis. They meet a young and interesting couple, played by Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried, who challenge their ideas of themselves and make the older pair try new things and experience the world in new ways. When Stiller's character goes on to help mentor Driver in his work, both make documentary films, they go on a plot that leads them to the major complications of the films plot.

Things I Liked:

The Cast. The cast of this film is it's strongest selling point. Stiller and Watts show great works but it is the continuously on the rise Driver and the always skilled Seyfried who really shine in this film. They give a great sense of energy and have highly compelling characters throughout the movie.Their performances not only outshine their elder counterparts but lift up those performances and the best scenes are when all of the four main characters are on screen together.

The Subtlety. The film plays very well with simple quirky humor and has a very indie film vibe that thrives on the simple things. The nature of the film was a little slower, a little quieter, and a little more laid back. The film benefits from this. While these qualities can drag other works down this one is telling a very human story and it doesn't try to do more than it needs to to do so. And the movie is better for it.

Things I Didn't Like:

The Comedy. The film's comedy is very subtle as well but it doesn't land as well as it should. It hits some of the time but none of the comedy feels super genuine, and the parts that are funny are only slightly so much. The movie is a heartfelt and makes you feel for the characters but for a movie that is marketed as a comedy it provides minimal laughs and the ones it does provide are only moderately received.

Everything Else Going On. All the other characters and situations in this movie are thrown to the wayside and you just don't care. And they come back into the film over and over again and it doesn't matter and it only delays the parts of the film that you actually care about. So when the characters and situations come in to the story purely for another voice or a quirky moment, they take away from the story that you care about and it makes that story less powerful.

Overall. Overall the film is good, but not great. It's got its moments and a particularly strong cast. But the moments are not as strong as they could be and there are many characters that are unneeded or uninteresting. The laughs are few and far between and while the story is interesting and the uniqueness of it is enjoyable. But the film is one that isn't necessarily worth your time if you don't enjoy other indie comedies you probably won't enjoy this one. It was good enough time that I enjoyed it but not enough that I would watch it again and nothing that jumped out and really grabbed me.