While We’re Young

Noah Baumbach’s latest comedy-drama spins a tale about a 40-something married couple, Josh (Ben Stiller) and Naomi Watts (Cornelia), who find themselves drawn into the youthfully energetic orbit of a 20-something married couple, Jamie (Adam Driver) and Darby (Amanda Seyfried). Josh and Jamie are both documentary filmmakers; the latter aspires to match the former’s early success, while Josh is struggling to maintain a career that once seemed very promising. And Josh has the additional challenge of meeting the severe expectations of his father-in-law (Charles Grodin), who—as it happens—is a revered veteran of documentary filmmaking himself. At the same time, the childless marriage of Josh and Cornelia is nudged toward a mid-life crisis of its own by way of the newborn child of their 40-something best friends, Fletcher (Adam Horovitz) and Marina (Maria Dizzia). Contrasting married couples, overlapping generation gaps, and artistic ambitions immersed in 21st-century video saturation all get witty and observant treatment in Baumbach’s sharply written comedy of post-modern manners. Pageant Theatre. Rated R