While We're Young (2014)

A middle-aged couple's career and marriage are overturned when a disarming young couple enters their lives.

Director:

Noah Baumbach

Writers:

Noah Baumbach, Henrik Ibsen (epigraph from "A Master Builder" by)

Stars:

Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts, Adam Driver

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Naomi Watts	...	Cornelia
Ben Stiller	...	Josh
Maria Dizzia	...	Marina
Adam Horovitz	...	Fletcher
Matthew Maher	...	Tim (as Matt Maher)
Peter Yarrow	...	Ira Mandelstam
Bonnie Kaufman	...	Ira's Wife
Hector Otero	...	Frank
Deborah Eisenberg	...	New School Woman
Adam Driver	...	Jamie
Amanda Seyfried	...	Darby
Dree Hemingway	...	Tipper
Matthew Shear	...	Benny
Annie Baker	...	Elise
Quincy Tyler Bernstine	...	Pepper

Storyline

Josh Srebnick is 44. He is married to Cornelia, 43, the daughter of Leslie Breitbart, a respected documentary filmmaker. The couple lives comfortably in New York Village and gives the image of happiness. But things are not so rosy as they look: on a personal level, their relationships have been cooling down while they suffer from not having children. On a professional plane, things have deteriorated as well. Josh, who is also a documentary filmmaker like his father-in-law, has lost inspiration: he has been grappling with his last movie for eight years now without being able to complete it. To be true, Josh goes nowhere and his marriage is on the rocks. Things start changing when Josh and Cornelia meet another married pair: Jamie and Darby, a generation younger, express their admiration for Josh (Jamie wishing to become a documentary filmmaker himself). Plus, they are much cooler, smarter and more uninhibited than the two forty-odds. Could they help Josh and Cornelia to revive their ...

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Plot Keywords:

documentary filmmaker | documentary filmmaking | father in law | baby | hipster | 

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Taglines:

Life never gets old

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although his face is never shown in close-up, the speaker who presents Leslie with his lifetime achievement tribute at Lincoln Center is Peter Bogdanovich, a film historian & director whose credits include The Last Picture Show (1971), Targets (1968), & Paper Moon (1973). In his real life, Bogdanovich has both presented many of these kinds of honors to film luminaries (for example, he presented Cyd Charisse's Texas Film Award to her in Austin), and been given many himself.

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Quotes

[First lines]
Title card: From Henrik Ibsen's "The Master Builder"
Solness: The funny thing is that I've become so disturbed by younger people!
Hilde: What? Younger people?
Solness: Yes, they upset me so much that I've sort of closed my doors here and locked myself in. Because I'm afraid they're going to come here, and they're going to knock on the door, and then they're going to break in.
Hilde: Well, I think maybe you should open the door and let them in.
Solness: Open the door?
Hilde: Yes - so that they can just gently and quietly come inside, and it can be...
[...]

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Connections

References Five Fingers of Death (1972)

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Soundtracks

Allegro [Concerto For Violin And Strings In E Flat Major RV254]
Written by Antonio Vivaldi
Performed by Giuliano Carmignola, Accademia Bizantina, Ottavio Dantone
Courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon GmbH
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Good start, but ends with mixed feelings

5/10 might not seem like a good rating, but it's a strong 5. This movie is definitely worth seeing, but only if you're okay with mild disappointments and outdated "we can't be happy without having kids" Disney-like thinking.

Movie does indeed have a good start - Ben Stiller & Naomi Watts play their roles well and make lots of good points of how we can sometimes be unhappy with our past decisions and our lives. Movie also captures well how people change when they grow up; one ends up having kids, another focuses on his/her career or other things.

Sadly "While We're Young" doesn't grasp all that there could've been. The ending leaves you kinda sad/disappointed/with mixed feelings. To put it plainly; it doesn't deliver.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 April 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

While We're Young

Filming Locations:

Jackson Hole Restaurant, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$227,688, 29 March 2015

Gross USA:

$7,587,485

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$21,100,576

Company Credits

Production Co:

IAC Films, Scott Rudin Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

97 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1