While writer-director Noah Baumbach brought to us the wistfulness of youth in Frances Ha, this time he has chosen to take a step back from this demographic and view them through the daggy binoculars of middle-aged cynicism in While We’re Young.
We open onto the sight of Naomi Watts and Ben Stiller’s married, childless couple unsuccessfully attempting to entertain a friends’ new baby. All the while, a tinkling lullaby rings to the tune of David Bowie’s “Golden Years”. It’s hard to know what part of life these Golden Years refer to in Baumbach’s view? That of uninhibited and inexperienced youth, of the years in the cot, of parenthood, or perhaps of middle-age? As demonstrated here, everyone has their faults regardless of their age or achievements: many of these faults are cursory and amusing; some of them deeply unflattering. No-one is perfect, after all. And that’s fine.
In the aforementioned song, which bookends this film, a certain lyric implores that one should “never look back, walk tall, act fine,” and this is something Josh (Stiller) and Cornelia (Watts) have tried to do for much of their partnership. Josh is a languishing documentarian, Cornelia a producer. Now, they have ventured into their forties carrying a stale sense of adventure, and not much to show for their effort. 
As they find themselves surrounded and bewildered by the state of parenthood afflicting many of their friends, a budding friendship with a young couple provides an exit from the monotony; one where they are tempted to momentarily abandon their routine in favour of looking back and rediscovering spontaneity and mojo. Josh and Cornelia’s young guides, Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried), live an impulsive and relentlessly hipster lifestyle. More than that, Josh feels that, in Jamie (also a filmmaker), he may have found a prodigy. However, it’s hard to say whether Jamie and Darby’s influence is one for the better or if they are simply deceiving themselves in trying to reclaim their youth.
You only need to see Ben Stiller in a fedora and Naomi Watts trying hip hop to realise that this film is a thorough and unadulterated mid-section of the mid-life crisis – and an occasionally very amusing one at that. This is even if many of the jokes and complications are milked from somewhat tired clichés. In fact, many elements in While We’re Young are not highly original, but Baumbach’s incisive dialogue and commentary on the pitfalls of modern society redeem most of the shortcomings emanating from his film’s muddled narrative arc. A stellar cast certainly helps, and the four stars make for a charismatic and engaging bunch. Ultimately, however, the fact that this film – like its subjects – is willing to muse, contemplate, bicker and play the cynic (in no particular order) is its great strength.
As for a lasting message, you wouldn’t look to any of these people for guidance, but you might take note of what not to do. Most viewers will doubtless emerge with the affirmation that wearing a fedora is not the best idea. For, as much as we may want to avoid it, getting old is a natural progression beyond the realms of trendiness, so perhaps it’s just best to act your age.
While We’re Young is in Australian cinemas from April 16 through Roadshow Films.
