Just in case last week’s Cinderella was kind of hard for you to relate to (you don’t own a giant poofy dress, fancy a prince and have a pet mouse called Gus Gus?), how about a movie that’s all about you, your generation, and how we're all just muddling through this funny old thing called life in the best way we know how?
While We’re Young is the new Noah Baumbach (Frances Ha, The Squid And The Whale) film about a documentary-making couple played by Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts who, in their mid-forties, have started to feel displaced as their friends settle down with kids. See, Josh and Cornelia aren't quite there in life yet; while their friends lose their lives to evenings in with breast pumps, Josh and Cornelia are still living with the hope that they might take a spontaneous trip to Rome, as long as they plan it far enough in advance of course. Things change when they meet Jamie and Darby, two super cool 25 year olds from Brooklyn with a super cool loft apartment and vintage wardrobe to match. Jamie (played by Adam from Girls) is also a documentary maker, while Darby (Amanda Seyfreid) makes organic ice cream with super cool ingredients like avocado in.
The differences between the two couples are immediately apparent and oh so ironic. As the older couple, Josh and Cornelia spend their time glued to their iPads and iPhones, dine at hip new restaurants and spend hours on social media, Jamie and Darby as the younger couple listen to actual records, read books, play Monopoly and watch VHSs purchased from eBay. For a while, hanging out with Jamie and Darby rejuvenates Cornelia and Josh, (hell, they even start DRESSING like them, nice Fedora Josh) but then, after a while, all those things that people say about Millenials (oh, you know, that we’re selfish, introspective, don’t understand the value of things…) start to creep on in and rip apart the foursome apart.
It’s pretty rare that film and TV shows about middle class, city dwelling Millenials (aka us) get things so on the money but, in the same way as Girls, this one nails it. Obviously we don't have a cage-dwelling chicken in our overly hipster home but, from Darby and Jamie’s errant roommate Tipper, the girl with a thousand jobs, none of which make any money, to Jamie’s overly affected wordplay (turns out abbreviations are very annoying when it's not you doing it), it can make for an uncomforatably familiar watch. Even worse than identifying with Jamie and Darby though, are the parts when you relate to Josh and Cornelia and realise, to your horror, that you might be getting (gasp) 'old'.
The film borrows it’s introspective nature (and soundtrack) from every Woody Allen film ever but that doesn't stop it being a great way to spend an afternoon (one and a half at the cinema, then seven more at the pub dissecting modern life, technology and the differences between Gen X and Gen Y). Plus, you know that trip to New York you were planning on taking? Good luck leaving the cinema without your fingers casually typing ‘Cheap flights to New York’ and 'taxi from JFK to Bushwick' into Google the minute you get your signal back because 'city beaches', street BBQs and impromptu loft parties? We're definitely still young enough to do all of that.
While We're Young is out Friday 3rd April
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.