This movie cut me like a chainsaw.

While We're Young stars Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts as a fortysomething couple whose life and relationship have grown stagnant. He's a teacher and documentarian whose fame and acclaim came years in the past. She produces documentaries for her much more successful father.

Stiller and Watts are approached by a young couple, played by Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried. He claims to be a fan but there may be ulterior motives.

The younger people appear to be so much more alive than the aging couple. Stiller is particularly taken by them. He listens to CDs while they collect vinyl. They watch The Howling on VHS and he listlessly scrolls Netflix. He indulges in solo computer games and they play board games. The older couple buy products; the young ones make things themselves.

The first half of While We're Young plays like a typical domestic comedy. There are some very funny scenes featuring the creaky old guy and the virile young dude. Things grow darker in the final third of the movie.

The Adam Driver character is on the rise in a big way, while Stiller's career is deadlocked. The question is why? The unfortunate answer is that the older man is a purist and the young guy is kind of a douche. Why can't the rest of the world see it? The Stiller character isn't selfish and ruthless enough to see real success.

Driver turns out to be dishonest and a phony. His documentary is deceitful. Stiller believes exposing him will bring Driver down, but the sad truth is, no ones cares that he is unethical. Isn't everyone?

In a time of fake friends, fake news, fake food, fake movies, fake music, who cares if a documentary is dishonest? As long as it is entertaining, it flies. Furthermore, when everyone is making videos, there's no integrity in the act anymore. Just as with writing book and movie reviews.

I felt a tremendous kinship with the Stiller character. Despite my greater knowledge of the horror fiction field than most, I am definitely in the lower tier of influencers.

I couldn't stand the cool kids in school, I don't much like them at work, and I'm not crazy about them in the world of horror. It doesn't help that I am partially jealous of the success and the money that comes along with it. It's almost impossible not to feel at least a little bitter.

Yes, all that is old man talk. And why not? I am one. We all become the old guy in the long run. Isn't it better to embrace it? What's more pathetic than a senior trying to behave like a kid?

The trick, for the movie character and for me, is to realize time has passed and try to accept who and what we are. To do so with as little resentment as possible. Besides, aren't most successful people pretty messed up?

The final image of While We're Young is arresting: A baby has an iphone in his hand and is aimlessly snapping pictures of anything in front of him. It seems even more fitting now than a decade ago when the film was made.

Written by Mark Sieber

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