While we're young - movie review

I did not know who Noah Baumbach was till I saw this film that he directed. Starring Ben Stiller (honestly I give him cred because of his dad Jerry Stiller in Seinfeld whom I loved) and Naomi Watts (whom I quite like as an actor) play the role of 40 something NY couple that is longing for a change in their childless existence.

The movie is similar to some others I have seen in the serious comedy /satire genre with what Hollywood or movie watching public might consider B or C grade acting talent (take Albert Brooks or Paul Rudd in 'This is 40').

The plot revolves around the 40ish couple crossing paths with a 20ish hippy pair who live a very energetic and ad hoc life. From the stereotype of making their own food (and ice cream) even in NY, to their whole Bohemian chic lifestyle, the older couple gets enamored to the point that they emulate them in their own life. From taking hip hop lessons to taking wild hikes in the middle of the night wearing attire unfit for an aging body these two take their new found friends into their personal space. For a while it appears to give them a spiritual high, the arthritis in Ben's back notwithstanding.

Very soon Stiller whose character is a movie /documentary director without recent success starts helping the younger man with his own film project that goes on to be celebrated at a gala only to find that the younger man has crossed a moral boundary in what is authentic film making and been deceitful in their so called friendship. Stiller in the end concedes that the younger couple are not to be hated for their ways but that there are many shades of what makes the planet go round.

You live and let live. Be true to who you are as an individual (or couple).

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