WHILE WE'RE YOUNG: The Film Babble Blog Review

Opening today at an indie art house near me:

WHILE WE'RE YOUNG

(Dir. Noah Baumbach, 2015)

?We were just 25. I mean, we weren?t, but you know,? 44-year old Josh (Ben Stiller) says to his 43-year old wife Cornelia (Naomi Watts) when she asks why he suddenly wants to hang out with a couple of 25-year olds.

In writer/director Noah Baumbach?s (THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, FRANCES HA) eighth film, WHILE WE'RE YOUNG, these aging Brooklynites find themselves attracted to the hipster lifestyles of Jamie (Adam Driver from the HBO show Girls), and Darby (Amanda Seyfried). This is after it?s been well established that Josh and Cornelia?s decision not to have children alienates them from their new-parent friends Fletcher (Adam Horowitz aka Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys) and Marina (Maria Dizzia).

Josh, a documentary filmmaker of little renown, is initially approached by Jamie and Darby after a class Josh teaches on filmmaking for a continuing education program. Jamie, an aspiring documentarian himself, tells Josh he loves his work (he bought an obscure VHS copy of Josh?s only film on eBay), and before you know it, Jamie and Darby are schmoozing it up with Josh and Cornelia.

An amusing montage displays how the older couple depends on their modern devices (iPhones, iPods, laptops, etc,) while the young ones revel in the retro (vinyl, VHS, typewriters, etc.). We also see Josh shopping for vintage threads with Jamie, while Cornelia bonds with Darby, whose thing is making organic artisanal ice-cream, over a hip hop dance class.

Dining with Fletcher and Marina, Josh and Cornelia rave about their new friends. Cornelia describes Jamie and Darby?s apartment as being filled with ?everything we once threw out, but it looks so good the way they have it.? Josh enthusiastically adds: ?you should see this guy?s record collection. It?s Jay-Z, it?s Thin Lizzy, it?s Mozart. His taste is democratic - it?s THE GOONIES and it?s CITIZEN KANE. They don't distinguish between high and low. It?s wonderful.?

Fletcher responds, ?When did THE GOONIES become a good movie?? I myself have been wondering that for years.

Conflict comes when Jamie starts cozying up with Cornelia?s father, famous filmmaker Leslie Breitbart (the great, grumpy Charles Grodin), who used to mentor Josh. This makes Josh realize that his new young friend?s motivations may be questionable, as is the content of his project when it?s revealed that Jamie fudged the timeline and the Facebook angle that led to his documentary?s subject, a suicidal war veteran played by Brady Corbet.

Unfortunately this development comes off a bit contrived making the confrontational conclusion at Leslie?s memorial ceremony at Lincoln Center a bit clunky, but the overall gist of the observational humor, and drama, here is dead on.

In 2010?s GREENBURG, Baumbach and Stiller less successfully approached similar themes, but here they largely nail the unsettling feeling that fortysomething folks have coming to terms with the fact that, as Springsteen famously sang, ?we ain?t so young anymore.?

Stiller, who is closer to 50 than his screen counterpart, has made a career of playing uptight characters challenged to break out of their shells, but his Josh may be the actor?s most fleshed out, and vulnerable performance. It beats the pants off of WALTER MITTY, that's for sure.

Co-stars Watts, Grodin, and Seyfried also shine, but Driver, building upon the artsy inclinations of his character on Girls, really stands out. His Jamie sharply captures the soullessness of a guy who?s spent his entire existence faking sincerity.

Such meddling millennials sure can make members of Generation X like me feel old, but Baumbach?s smart and dryly funny take on the situation in WHILE WE'RE YOUNG, helps to ease the blow.

More later...

WHILE WE'RE YOUNG: The Film Babble Blog Review

Opening today at an indie art house near me:

WHILE WE'RE YOUNG

(Dir. Noah Baumbach, 2015)

?We were just 25. I mean, we weren?t, but you know,? 44-year old Josh (Ben Stiller) says to his 43-year old wife Cornelia (Naomi Watts) when she asks why he suddenly wants to hang out with a couple of 25-year olds.

In writer/director Noah Baumbach?s (THE SQUID AND THE WHALE, FRANCES HA) eighth film, WHILE WE'RE YOUNG, these aging Brooklynites find themselves attracted to the hipster lifestyles of Jamie (Adam Driver from the HBO show Girls), and Darby (Amanda Seyfried). This is after it?s been well established that Josh and Cornelia?s decision not to have children alienates them from their new-parent friends Fletcher (Adam Horowitz aka Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys) and Marina (Maria Dizzia).

Josh, a documentary filmmaker of little renown, is initially approached by Jamie and Darby after a class Josh teaches on filmmaking for a continuing education program. Jamie, an aspiring documentarian himself, tells Josh he loves his work (he bought an obscure VHS copy of Josh?s only film on eBay), and before you know it, Jamie and Darby are schmoozing it up with Josh and Cornelia.

An amusing montage displays how the older couple depends on their modern devices (iPhones, iPods, laptops, etc,) while the young ones revel in the retro (vinyl, VHS, typewriters, etc.). We also see Josh shopping for vintage threads with Jamie, while Cornelia bonds with Darby, whose thing is making organic artisanal ice-cream, over a hip hop dance class.

Dining with Fletcher and Marina, Josh and Cornelia rave about their new friends. Cornelia describes Jamie and Darby?s apartment as being filled with ?everything we once threw out, but it looks so good the way they have it.? Josh enthusiastically adds: ?you should see this guy?s record collection. It?s Jay-Z, it?s Thin Lizzy, it?s Mozart. His taste is democratic - it?s THE GOONIES and it?s CITIZEN KANE. They don't distinguish between high and low. It?s wonderful.?

Fletcher responds, ?When did THE GOONIES become a good movie?? I myself have been wondering that for years.

Conflict comes when Jamie starts cozying up with Cornelia?s father, famous filmmaker Leslie Breitbart (the great, grumpy Charles Grodin), who used to mentor Josh. This makes Josh realize that his new young friend?s motivations may be questionable, as is the content of his project when it?s revealed that Jamie fudged the timeline and the Facebook angle that led to his documentary?s subject, a suicidal war veteran played by Brady Corbet.

Unfortunately this development comes off a bit contrived making the confrontational conclusion at Leslie?s memorial ceremony at Lincoln Center a bit clunky, but the overall gist of the observational humor, and drama, here is dead on.

In 2010?s GREENBURG, Baumbach and Stiller less successfully approached similar themes, but here they largely nail the unsettling feeling that fortysomething folks have coming to terms with the fact that, as Springsteen famously sang, ?we ain?t so young anymore.?

Stiller, who is closer to 50 than his screen counterpart, has made a career of playing uptight characters challenged to break out of their shells, but his Josh may be the actor?s most fleshed out, and vulnerable performance. It beats the pants off of WALTER MITTY, that's for sure.

Co-stars Watts, Grodin, and Seyfried also shine, but Driver, building upon the artsy inclinations of his character on Girls, really stands out. His Jamie sharply captures the soullessness of a guy who?s spent his entire existence faking sincerity.

Such meddling millennials sure can make members of Generation X like me feel old, but Baumbach?s smart and dryly funny take on the situation in WHILE WE'RE YOUNG, helps to ease the blow.

More later...

Envy

***DISCLAIMER*** The following review is entirely my opinion. If you comment (which I encourage you to do) be respectful. If you don't agree with my opinion, that's fine. To each their own. These reviews are not meant to be statements of facts or endorsements, I am just sharing my opinions and my perspective when watching the film and is not meant to reflect how these films should be viewed. Finally, the reviews are given on a scale of 0-5. 0, of course, being unwatchable. 1, being terrible. 2, being not great. 3, being okay. 4, being great and 5, being epic! And if you enjoy these reviews feel free to share them and follow the blog or follow me on Twitter (@RevRonster) for links to my reviews and the occasional live-Tweet session of the movie I'm watching! My envy comes from the fact that people were doing more important and entertaining things while I watched this one.

Envy ? 1 out of 5

Despite my fondness of Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Christopher Walken (true story, I once performed a rendition of Shakespeare?s play that shall not be named doing an impression of Walken the entire time?it was as horrible as it sounds) but, even with this fact of enjoyment over these actors, I never jumped at the opportunity to watch Envy. In fact, I heard such horrible things about it that I put it on my Netflix queue to watch later. I never jumped at the opportunity to view it and every time it came up for delivery, I pushed it back towards the bottom of my queue. However, this last weekend, I gave in and watched it and, I realized, I could have waited infinitely longer.

They are in a car together and there wasn't a "sing along to the radio" scene?
ROBBED!!!

Tim Dingman (Ben Stiller) and Nick Vanderpark (Jack Black) are stuck in a job that feels like it is going nowhere. Nick is a dreamer and is always trying to come up with the next big thing but Tim lectures him that he just needs to focus and do the best with where he?s at. One day, Nick comes up with an idea call the "Vapoorizer," an invention that, when sprayed on dog droppings, will make said feces simply disappear and eliminate the need to pick up dog waste all together. After Nick gets the product made, he becomes a millionaire and Tim is left to his soul-crushing job alone and must look in on the fabulous world of his best friend?and realize that Nick gave him an opportunity to get in on the ground floor but passed on it. Soon, Tim?s jealousy gets the better of him and he loses his job, sees his family ready to leave him, and finds himself being pushed towards revenge by a man who calls himself the J-Man (Christopher Walken).

This is an actual shot from the film...it's not a metaphor, I swear.

I had to watch Zoolander after watching this to remind
me why I am a fan of Ben Stiller.

Envy was pretty much panned entirely by critics and audiences when it came out and was so bad that it was going to be destined to only be released directly on video but was saved in the last minute and sent to theaters for nothing else than to try and make some of the money back. I remember thinking that with Stiller, Black, and Walken in the film, how could it really be that bad? However, the negative reviews still kept me from this film for an entire decade?shit, Stiller and Black actually publically apologized for how bad this film was. Granted, I didn?t think this film was absolutely atrocious but, I have to agree, this movie isn?t good.

Okay, so the movie is literally beating a dead horse...

The main problem with this film is it is just not funny. Yes, comedy is subjective and what one person finds hilarious, another may find mind-numbing, stupid, or even offensive. However, I just couldn?t laugh at this film. Once, at one point with Walken, I gave a small chuckle but the rest of the film was just me sitting in silence. Envy wants to be a dark comedy and have you find humor is locations that normally aren?t a breeding ground for comedy?for example, a major plot point involves Tim?s jealousy releasing itself in the form of drinking and, in his drunken stupor, he kills Nick?s prize horse. Dark comedies are already an acquired taste but this film just couldn?t tune in its humor to make these darker moments work. These scenes come off like first drafts of jokes and gags without any consideration of refining them. A majority of the time, scenes come off looking like someone flailing about desperately to try and get a pity laugh and it makes too much of the film sad and kinda embarrassing.

I still love you even though you were in this film, Walken.

Well, if Walken and Stiller form a band, I already have
their first album cover ready.

Finally, the cast really just looked like they didn?t give a shit. Black and Walken seem to be given their best with what little comedy the script has in it but Stiller just looks like he doesn?t care. I found this odd because Stiller can play the victim quite well but here, it just looked like he didn?t try. Additionally, the wives of Tim and Nick feel a tad superfluous due to their limited appearances in the film (there?s even a side-story that features Nick?s wife Debbie?played by the talented Amy Poehler?running for office but nothing ever really concrete or interesting results from it). Tim?s wife is played by Rachel Weisz but with the lack of any intrigue the character has, having the talented Weisz play the role felt ultimately pointless.  Most of the time she comes off like background decoration of part of the set.

In reality, Tim's wife could have been played by a person with a bag on their
head and you never would have noticed.  That's how little they do with her
in the story.

Pointless also describes the story and plot as the film feels like it is just meandering around an outline rather than an actual story or script. I already mentioned how Poehler?s character has a side-story that just sorta fizzles out with no real fanfare but the whole movie comes off this way. The basics of what is happening is there and you get that Tim is jealous but the movie never really makes you feel like you are going through Tim?s raging and depressing jealousy. It just feels like you are seeing certain segments of this journey and any real development the story needs for the characters is just tossed to the side and forgotten about.

Well, if it's being sold on TV...I'll take 15!

Envy could have easily been a decent dark comedy about one man?s jealously over his friend?s success but the film feels like it has no idea how comedy works, doesn?t really go into any satisfying details of its story and plot, and the cast barely appears to have any interest. I pushed this one off for 10 years but I could have easily pushed it off another decade or just never bothered to watch it at all.