- Culture
- 05 May 15
Witty, a little wise, a little immature, Baumbach's film blends youth and age
Noah Baumbach's latest film is a wistful character study, outwardly slight yet oddly moving for all that.
Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts play filmmakers Josh and Cordelia, a 40-something childless couple struggling to come to terms with the fact that their best days are behind them.
They meet the glaringly hip, and much younger, Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darcie (Amanda Seyfried) - and see an opportunity to reconnect with their own, vanished youth.
The results are predictable cringeful. When Cordelia goes to a hip-hop dance class with Darcie, she is awkwardly outside her comfort zone, for instance. Driver Jamie, meanwhile, is masterfully smarmy: he seems to enjoy putting Josh on edge.
Ironically for a film about authenticity, there are a lot of visual cliches and some clunking gags. But the soundtrack is cracking, juxtaposing Bowie, Survivor and Vivaldi.