This was hilarious and so incredibly well-written. It is spot-on about relationships, the film industry and the way people act in this day and age and also has a decent amount of heart to it as well. The entire cast shines - Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts are both at the top of their game (Watts is particularly fantastic) and Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried are both great and nail their depictions of 'hipster' 20-somethings. The humor is very cringeworthy and uncomfortable but I think with this being a Noah Baumbach movie you kind of expect that. Definitely my favorite film of the year so far. I hope it isn't forgotten or lost in the shuffle when awards season rolls around. It's also probably Baumbach's most mainstream movie thus far so I think it should definitely find an audience. A

Noah Baumbach's While We're Young is a generally sharp, well-realized melanchomedy about the generational divide that ultimately loses significant steam as it progresses. Aside from the finely observed details in Baumbach's script, the film has solid performances (articularly Ben Stiller in one of his best performances to date). I wish the film hadn't taken the turn it does in the final act, which ceases to be as insightful or funny as the rest of the film. B

An amusing, often very satisfying comedy, While We're Young examines the relationship an aging Generation X population has with its millennial heirs. It is well-acted by Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts, Adam Driver, and Amanda Seyfried, though the desires and fears of the female characters never come into focus as clearly as their male counterparts, and it exhibits a fine, modestly mordant understanding of this particular generation gap and its symptoms, including the resentment of "ironic" consumption of past popular culture. There is, however, a sense consistently acerbic and astute writer and director Noah Baumbach becomes a bit uncertain of himself and his vision in the third act, introducing a few contrived, heavily plot-centric elements to a film previously driven by more organic, free-flowing conversation and humor. These questionable choices do not derail the film, though. Far from it. They just slightly complicate and confuse what is otherwise a small gem.

B+

Ugh, I hated this movie. All of the characters were unlikable and the script wasn't even half as funny or cleaver as it thought it was. I felt bad for all of the actors because it all landed with such a thud. I know I'm in the minority but I couldn't wait for this to be over. A real chore of a movie to sit through.

D

The movie is very good throughout, but that last scene in the airport is an absolute killer and takes it up another level for me. From the poignant discussion Stiller has with Watts declaring that Adam wasn't an asshole ("he's just young") to the last two shots of the film going back and forth between Stiller and Watts and a toddler using an iPhone. They're perfect. We all think we're grown up. The kids is mimicking an adult. Driver is posing as an adult. Stiller even says at one point that he always thought of himself as a child imitating an adult. Baumbach isn't afraid of young people (right Greta?). He's afraid that culture will become a never ending parade of vapidness and falseness, and that we'll eventually lose our vivaciousness. We'll be alive without ever really being present. We'll all be a bunch of posers. It's not exactly a new cause for concern, but fuck it. Baumbach's good.

And fuck Brooklyn hipsters while we're at it.

****½ (A)