6/24/2023 0 Comments When we were young movie stiller![]() He is fascinated by their casual nobrow consumption of high and low culture, so easily available digitally, and falls a little in love with them. The lives of these young people seem so much freer, sharper, more passionate and captivating to poor Josh. Jamie, a would-be director, professes he is a huge admirer of Josh’s work – although Darby, it seems, is a little unfulfilled in a way that mirrors Cornelia. Cornelia and Josh’s friends are having babies, and they start to feel antsy and self-conscious about being childless.Īt this uniquely dangerous moment, their lives are invaded by Jamie ( Adam Driver) and his wife, Darby (Amanda Seyfried), a dazzlingly seductive twentysomething couple. He has a very happy marriage with Cornelia (Naomi Watts), but resents his father-in-law (Charles Grodin), himself an intimidatingly successful documentarian, a titan in the league of a Wiseman or Maysles. He is Josh, a once-promising documentary film-maker easing placidly into his 40s, teaching a film theory class but beginning to fear that his latest work, a solemn non-fiction film on which he has so far spent eight fruitless years of part-time work, may never get finished. It is not a sexual relationship, but something more painfully intimate: a matter of self-esteem and social status.īen Stiller once again plays the role of a middle-aged man whose mind has furred like a kettle with disappointment: the suppressed resentment of others’ success shows in his face. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook you can also listen to him on his weekly podcast: Maltin on Movies.N oah Baumbach’s While We’re Young is a comedy of middle youth: the story of one man’s midlife crisis, made more exquisitely horrible by his making a fool of himself – not with a younger woman, but a younger man. (Or was it Carmela consulting his Movie Guide on an episode of The Sopranos?) Perhaps the pinnacle of his career was his appearance in a now-classic episode of South Park. He has been the recipient of awards from the American Society of Cinematographers, the Telluride Film Festival, Anthology Film Archives, and San Diego’s Comic-Con International. ![]() He hosted and co-produced the popular Walt Disney Treasures DVD series and has appeared on innumerable television programs and documentaries. ![]() He served two terms as President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, is a voting member of the National Film Registry, and was appointed by the Librarian of Congress to sit on the Board of Directors of the National Film Preservation Foundation. His books include The 151 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen, Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons, The Great Movie Comedians, The Disney Films, The Art of the Cinematographer, Movie Comedy Teams, The Great American Broadcast, and Leonard Maltin’s Movie Encyclopedia. He teaches at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and appears regularly on Reelz Channel and Turner Classic Movies. He is best known for his widely-used reference work Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide and its companion volume Leonard Maltin’s Classic Movie Guide, now in its third edition, as well as his thirty-year run on television’s Entertainment Tonight. Leonard Maltin is one of the world’s most respected film critics and historians. ![]() The filmmaker’s attempt to balance social satire and farce doesn’t always work, but While We’re Young is smart and funny enough to overcome its flaws. Stiller’s role is tailor-made and Watts delivers yet another impressive performance-with a lightness of touch that’s rare in comedies these days-as a woman at a crossroads.īaumbach pokes fun at his characters’ pretensions but allows us to empathize with them at almost every turn, until Stiller goes off the deep end. This aspect of the story becomes a bit heavy-handed but is rescued by the humanity in Stiller and Watts’ characterizations we never lose sight of the fact that they love each other. Soon Watts catches her husband’s fever as the 40-ish couple make a desperate stab at recapturing their youth.Īs writer and director, Baumbach casts a keen eye on the absurdities of urban life as well as the issues facing traditional filmmakers at a time when anyone and everyone can create “media” on the spot. Driver insinuates himself into Stiller’s life, personally and professionally. Into his life steps an outgoing young man (Adam Driver) and his wife (Amanda Seyfried) who seem to represent everything he isn’t: glib, assertive, and spontaneous.
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