‘While We’re Young’ Trailer: Ben Stiller Back to Being Funny

Noah Baumbach’s last movie, ‘Frances Ha’, was one of our favorite movies of 2013. If you don’t trust our judgment, it was also one of Quentin Tarantino’s favorite movies of 2013. For as good as it was though, ‘Frances Ha’ never really broke out in a big way. That should all change with Baumbach’s next movie, ‘While We’re Young’, which looks like a very, very funny Ben Stiller movie.

‘While We’re Young’ debuted at the Toronto Film Festival earlier this year to rave reviews and it was immediately picked up by A24 for a release this spring. And, it couldn’t come at a better time for Stiller fans. For an actor we’d consider one of the most naturally talented comedic actors, he hasn’t made a really funny movie since…’Tropic Thunder’? In some ways, that’s on purpose (‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’) and, in others, not so much (‘The Watch’). It’s nice to see a Ben Stiller comedy that we’re actually excited about watching.

To catch you up to speed, here’s the ‘While We’re Young’ synopsis:

Aging gracefully is never easy, and it may be worse for artists. Josh Srebnick (Ben Stiller) is a New York documentarian who never quite got his due. As he labours over the umpteenth edit of his cerebral new film, it’s plain that he has hit a creative dry patch. Josh and his wife, Cornelia (Naomi Watts), tried to start a family and were unable — and have decided they’re okay with that. Yet for Josh, there is something still missing.
Enter Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried). A young artist couple, they are spontaneous and untethered, ready to drop everything in pursuit of their next passion — retro board games one day, acquiring a pet chicken the next. It’s not long before the unhappy fortysomethings Josh and Cornelia throw aside friends their own age to trail after these young hipsters who seem so plugged in, so uninhibited, so Brooklyn cool.

“For the first time in my life, I’ve stopped thinking of myself as a child imitating an adult.” Even just in this trailer, this movie is speaking to me on some weird specific level. Is this a documentary about my life? Watch for yourself and, for your sake, I hope you identify more with Adam Driver or Amanda Seyfried.

‘While We’re Young’ opens in theaters on March 27.