not applicable to all mid fortysomethings - While We're Young (2015) Discussion

[–] carpet_seller 10 years ago

What is that supposed to mean?

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[–] chillpillory 10 years ago

It means this: Stiller's character is not trying to be young. He's stuck being a hipster. I live around lots of Wall St finance types. None would have this experience, because to them being young does not equal being into music and cultural exploration. it means being into hard drinking and clubbing.

This movie is about a HIPSTER midlife crisis. Most guys I work/live around would have a midlife crisis by purchasing a Ducati bike and going to clubs.

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[–] ldealberti 10 years ago

But isn't it what makes the film more original? The kind of mid-life crisis you describe has been seen a million times at the cinema

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[–] chillpillory 10 years ago

Why would originality matter? Quality matters more than originality. Shakespeare borrowed most of his plots from previous writers and legends.

Anyhow, I'm an academic (professor/scholar). I am more interested in the phenomenon of the midlife crisis than movies.I'm talking about this is a case study for a research paper on the 21st C midlife crisis.

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[–] bwgood77 10 years ago

Damn, as much as you don't want to be like him, you sound exactly like the Ben Stiller character. Maybe that is why you are so mad.

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[–] chillpillory 10 years ago

how do I sound like him? I am a former English professor with a Ph.D. who now earns 300k/yr trading stocks at home. I drive a Porsche and am getting into track driving. I work out 6 days a week and shop at Bergdorf Goodman.

I may be a bit like Noah Baumbach in that I'm a short Jewish guy who got wait-listed by Vassar and lived in Brooklyn for ten years.

I am
a) a 45 yr old Jewish guy with a high IQ and an advanced degree.
b) a stock trader who drinks single malt, drives a Porsche, wears Italian sport coats almost every day, benches 225 (not bad for a 45 yr old who weighs 158lbs).

My point is that I am sort of two different people in one.

When I was 39 I may have been a bit like Stiller's character, but my response to that was to try to become Gordon Gekko and not what Stiller's character does. I went for money and moved to Manhattan (out of Brooklyn). Also, I became a Republican.

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[–] TransformersINC 10 years ago

LMFAO!

"Hey guys, look how much money I make. I don't like this movie because I'm more successful and different from the characters in this movie!"

You completely missed the point of this movie. And don't you think it's interesting that the art of cinema allows us to peer into the lives of those that are different from us? You throw around the term hipster so loosely, that you fail to see how pretentious you actually are.

This post was embarrassing to read.

Text is cheap.

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[–] 10 years ago

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[–] 10 years ago

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[–] TransformersINC 10 years ago

You truly are an unbearable human being. Saying that movies allow you to see different perspectives and other lives isn't generic or boring. It's a fact. You seem to utilize this tactic of taking something one person says, and try to make it seem invalid, giving you an edge in the discussion. Now that's what I'd call a generic and boring debate strategy. You can't simply call something "bad," and expect it to be true, just because you say so. You also can't simply state that your content is original, when it's anything but. You're entire post follows a pretty standard formula.

Text is cheap.

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[–] bwgood77 10 years ago

Funny thing is he just craves acceptance in the world. Trying to brag about bench pressing and stock market gains (which is probably an extrapolation of what he once made in one week x 52), etc.

Ben Stiller was the same way. He craved acceptance in the world.

Maybe he just hated it because the Ben Stiller character didn't like people who took shortcuts, but this guy thinks you have to take shortcuts whether it be trying to day trade or do roids.

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[–] cristina_milovan 10 years ago

I'm a 27 year old living in London andf ound I could relate to a lot of the themes explored in the film, especially from Josh's point of view. Everyone has experienced failure, felt like someone else got things too easily while we've worked so hard at something, trying new things and figuring out who you are...

Cornelia and Josh's friends suggesting they should have kids just because everyone was doing it at their age relates to anyone leading a different life and being judged for it.

That's why I find the film to be a success, it's relatable and you don't necessarily have to be in their same situation to understand it...

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[–] chillpillory 10 years ago

but you're 27.

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[–] cristina_milovan 10 years ago

So I guess you're right, it is not applicable to all mid fortysomethings.

It is applicable to whoever actually finds something to relate to in there. Fair enough if you didn't find it applicable to you, I was just trying to expand on your post by saying that I found it interesting even though I am not 40, I have never lived in Brooklyn and have never been married.

I guess I'm going to ask the same type of question that carpet_seller did... and your point with this statement is?

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[–] chillpillory 10 years ago

Don Draper is almost the same age as Stiller's character. Could you imagine Don going through what Stiller's character goes through? If not, why not?

I guess I'm asking what is youth for? In the 1940's and 1950's, I think youth was conceptualized very differently. People had kids younger. Few people spent time discovering themselves. That seems like an invention of the 1960's. I'm not saying it's a bad thing.

I'm 45. I tried some online dating. The profiles of women between 28 and 31 (maybe too young for me) seemed like teenagers profiles. They talked about trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives. They're 29. I'm not saying it's bad. Just a somewhat new historical development. People live longer. Also, advertising culture/media culture targets young people as the biggest consumer group. Therefore, it has a lot to gain by extending adolescence.

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[–] cristina_milovan 10 years ago

That's an interesting point and I agree with you. I think the problem is the people of my generation have been told that we can do anything, we can be anything and we can have time to figure it out. There's also a constant search for happiness which doesn't seem to have been a part of previous generations like it is now.

I do think people grow up a lot slower nowadays, people take gap years, do more than one degree, travel around the world to find themselves... I think it's because we have no idea what real hardship is in the 'Westernized' world nowadays, we've been babied so much we don't need to grow up.

I'm from Italy and at 27, I'm still considered incredibly young with my whole life ahead of me and a lot of my peers still have no idea what to do with their lives and they're told that that's ok. Whether all of this is a good or bad thing I don't know but I believe we've become so comfortable in our lives (all our basic needs are taken care of) that our minds are free to focus on other things like the ones described in the film.

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[–] bwgood77 10 years ago

Don Draper does go through this exact same thing...that is almost what the show is about. You should watch more of Mad Men. It's good.

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[–] chillpillory 10 years ago

No. I think you're wrong. I don't think they're comparable. Don marries Megan, who is younger, but not BECAUSE she is younger. She's gorgeous. Don hooks up with plenty of women his own age. The waitress is 40. His neighbor's wife (also his neighbor) is 40.

I do not at all think Don is trying to be younger/more youthful or to avoid adulthood. Ido not at all see him as a Peter Pan type. Not at all. Nor doI in any way see his infidelity as "immature." It's bad and reprehensible, but I do not think it is literally immature. Plenty of mature people are unfaithful and plenty of young people are faithful. The terms "mature" and "immature" simply do not apply.

Don has no interest in being young. He just likes having sex with beautiful women of almost any age. Don never takes acid and never particpates in any youth culture activities.

I get what you're saying, but I totally disagree with your opinion and will give example after example of why I do.

i suspect your opinion is based on the idea that Don's whoring around is a sign of his desire to avoid being a mature adult who accepts responsibility. I don't see it that way. Very beautiful women throw themselves at him.

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[–] bwgood77 10 years ago

Megan is not gorgeous. Those teeth are unbearable. Don sees the world passing him by, whether it be groupies at the concerts or the changing styles in the office. They try to get rid of him after he loses his mind in a meeting because he is just losing a grip on reality.

He is grasping at anything now and almost given up. He lets his apartment go to crap, loses his wife, tries to write her a check for a million, etc.

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[–] withnail69 10 years ago

Cornelia and Josh's friends suggesting they should have kids just because everyone was doing it at their age relates to anyone leading a different life and being judged for it.

EXACTLY and that is why the end really annoyed me!

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[–] JRod75 10 years ago

It's not applicable to all mid-forty somethings, but neither is the hypothetical premise you outline in your post. I happen to know a lot of people in the creative industries and this film felt very real for me.

Thank you for curing me of my ridiculous obsession with love.

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[–] ibbi 10 years ago

Is any movie applicable to all? I don't think it's aimed in its entirety at fortysomethings either. There are ideas and feelings the movie ponders over that could be applicable to anyone who shares the thoughts of the characters.

Mr. Campbell... Who cares?

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[–] bastille-852-731547 10 years ago

I didn't think that any of the four main characters were particularly relatable to anyone (even those who are the ages of the characters.) The four main characters (Stiller, Watts, Driver and Seyfried) were all very contrived, especially Ben Stiller's character.

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[–] HaloFett 10 years ago

No wonder the critics are so elated by this film and singing the hosannas of finally having a movie they as "grown-ups" can enjoy...since most critics are upper middle class white progressive hipsters.

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[–] NeedysBoy 10 years ago

HaloFett writes: "...since most critics are upper middle class white progressive hipsters."

Except...

That this film tears 'em a new one!

 "Maybe it's another dimension. Or, you know, just really deep." --Needy

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[–] emvan 10 years ago

Who said the movie claims to be applicable to everyone in its generation? And just how many stories did you encounter, on your way to that alleged* English Ph.D., that aimed for that kind of universality, let alone achieved it? Isn't the best narrative art that which captures a specific person (or people), time, and place? Isn't the idea that, if you do that well enough, you automatically achieve some universality, because you have illuminated some true aspects of human nature, which is too multidimensional to capture in its fullest in any narrative of ordinary size and scope?

In this case, your "especially if you're a filmmaker" is an understatement. This is a hell of a lot more a story about someone with a massive unfinished artistic undertaking than it is about someone of a certain age.

*I say "alleged" because these are things that even I understand, with my mere A.B. in English. (And now you've got me seriously curious as to whether the Ph.D. is imaginary, or whether it's accompanied by a diagnosis, formal or otherwise, of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Hmm, is that a joke?)

Prepare your minds for a new scale of physical, scientific values, gentlemen.

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[–] chillpillory 10 years ago

I do not disagree with anything you're saying about the specificity of art. I just think people who still want to be artists after age 40 (and who are not already successful at being an artist) are kind of pathetic. That's all. I was mainly annoyed by the ethos of Birdman. I think a great blockbuster is more impressive than a whiney little indie.

Also, I think the whole "exploring other cultures" thing is lame. I live din Brookyln for nine years and saw numerous white Vassar girls trying to speak Spanish with the Puerto Rican guys at the bodegas. It all seems like white trustfund guilt. That's my main problem with this movie (or the clips I've seen).

It is a real Ph.D. (Brandeis), but I'm a narcissist. Being so drives me to be rich and ripped, but I don't have many friends.

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[–] emvan 10 years ago

That was actually my guess ... good to see you've got self-awareness. In theory, that's the difference between narcissists who are happy, and those who not only aren't, but also make things miserable for others.

Stiller's character is more than kind of pathetic: more like fairly pathetic. I talk about the limited appeal of Baumbach's movies in another thread. I like sympathetic portrayals of sometimes unlikeable, messed up characters as they struggle to get their lives together. What's interesting about this one is that Stiller's character doesn't get to the point where he starts to do so, as happens, for instance, in Greenberg, Sideways, and Up in the Air. He is merely confronted with a painful life lesson.

I thought the movie's argument about the role of authenticity in documentary films was very thought-provoking; it's what lifts it from an 8/10 to a 9/10 for me. But maybe you haven't seen that part of it (it's all in the third act).

Prepare your minds for a new scale of physical, scientific values, gentlemen.

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[–] cristina_milovan 10 years ago

I just think people who still want to be artists after age 40 (and who are not already successful at being an artist) are kind of pathetic.

Reading through all your posts on this topic, this is the one that gave me the most insight into what kind of person you are. It's obvious you do not value art because anyone that does, does not hold this view. I also think the word 'artist' means different things to different people. Nowadays that term has many connotations... I could be an artist full time or have another job and make art as an hobby.

You didn't enjoy Birdman and do not care at all for the film we're discussing. Hey, to each their own but you obviously cannot understand people that are driven and passionate about art in all its forms. That's fine, live in your mansion and drive your expensive cars... But I don't see why you should judge people for wanting to live their lives through art. You chose money, so don't you think some people prefer other things in life? It's possible, isn't it? That doesn't make pathetic.

I don't think it's pathetic for people to still want to be artists after 40, however it's always good to be a realist. I work in the entertainment industry but I have other skills as well so if my career doesn't go as planned, I can always work in other sectors. That said, I will never stop wanting to work in cinema, even if I'm 50 and have another job. That doesn't make me pathetic, it makes me have purpose.

That's my main problem with this movie (or the clips I've seen)

Am I to understand you haven't seen the film in its entirety? How can you have an in-depth discussion about it then? Ben Stiller is not a hipster at all, and that's why I enjoyed the film... because his character is at first enchanted by this hipster world but then realizes it is superficial and just another way to be cool.

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[–] azurit 10 years ago

your Posts are very sophisticated and interesting.

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[–] Sergeant343 10 years ago

Nothing is applicable to everyone, nor should it be.

HI-F___ING-YA
Nicholas Cage Deadfall
Films 2015: www.imdb.com/list/ls073224289/

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