Aubrey MaloneWhen We’re Young (15A)
Woody Allen often says “I’d love to have made a masterpiece like my hero, Ingmar Bergman”. He’s being a bit hard on himself here. In my opinion he’s made at least two: Manhattan and Annie Hall.
You could describe When We’re Young as another one he should – and could – have made. It’s got his stamp so indelibly in almost every frame I had to wipe my eyes when the credits said: “Directed and written by Noah Baumbac.”
To be sure, Baumbach owes Woody a drink next Christmas.
It’s probably the funniest film you’ll see this year, all the more so because it doesn’t seem to know how funny it is. (The first rule of comedy?)
A coruscating satire on everything from plagiarism to baby bores to midlife crisis, it manages to weld all these themes into a very insightful study of Josh Srebnick (Ben Stiller), a 42-year old New Yorker who makes documentaries for a living but now seems stuck in a rut.
He takes a young fan of his, Jamie (Adam Driver), under his wing and teaches him the ropes, only to see Jamie realising all the dreams that remain unfulfilled in his own life.
Josh is married to Cornelia (Naomi Watts). They have no children.
Both of them feel this is the thing that could be causing them a kind of ‘seven year itch’ syndrome, especially when they socialise with a contemporary couple who’ve just had a baby. (Maria Dizzia and Adam Horowitz are also hilarious in these roles).
In many ways, Josh and Cornelia feel life has passed them by.
They envy the spontaneity of Jamie and his equally beatnik-style wife Darby (Amanda Seyfried). Jamie and Darby live ‘in the moment’.
Though only in their mid-twenties, they’re fascinated by the world Josh grew up in.
Jamie has vinyl records instead of CDs. He watches vintage movies. He types on an old manual machine. (They also have a chicken in their apartment!)
But is there more to them than meets the eye? Jamie is also an aficionado of Facebook and Twitter.
When he starts making moves behind Josh’s back in the documentary world, Josh smells a rat. Is his brain being picked?
The performances of all the cast are top-notch.
The little-seen Charles Grodin is excellent as Stiller’s father-in-law, and it’s almost worth the admission price alone to see Watts doing hip hop exercises to get in touch with her inner teenager. All in all a rib-tickling gem.
Don’t miss it.