By Robert Yaniz Jr.

There comes a time in everyone’s life when they can feel the last vestiges of their youth slipping away, clearing the path ahead for nothing but disappointment and senility. For Josh (Ben Stiller) and Cornelia (Naomi Watts), that time is now. Middle-aged and childless, the longtime couple finds their lives turned upside down when they encounter the twenty-something Jamie (Adam Driver) and his wife Darby (Amanda Seyfried). Faced with the modern sensibilities of their new friends, Josh and Cornelia discover that they are at a crossroads for both their marriage and their happiness.

Few recent movies are as tailored to today’s hipster as While We’re Young. Director Noah Baumbach captures the bizarre, nostalgia-tinted world we live in, from Jamie and Darby’s appreciation for records to their admirable commitment to not Googling something that they can’t recall in a flash. Baumbach even manages to squeeze in a steady flow of fedoras, seemingly as the physical embodiment of the lifestyle that Jamie represents, and for the most part, the disparate connection between the youngsters with their passion for life and the more cynical pair who feel like they exist in a world not meant for them is a resounding success.

Where the film falters, however, is in its desire to complicate matters by stripping the situation of its widespread accessibility and introducing questionable character motivations in place of developing a truer and more honest exploration of the generational divide the film espouses to examine. Instead, these deeper themes are stripped away to make room for a story that isn’t nearly as compelling as it initially seemed.

The four leads all deliver engaging performances, with Watts and Driver slightly outshining their costars, and While We’re Young also benefits from a rare big-screen appearance from 1980s/1990s comedy staple Charles Grodin as Stiller’s father-in-law. Although the cast is game, Baumbach’s script isn’t quite focused enough to tell an engaging story, as it spends an inordinate amount of time on Stiller’s career as a documentarian and an overdrawn sequence involving a shaman (don’t ask). Throughout the course of its somehow-too-long 97-minute runtime, the film devolves from a promising character study into something else entirely and ultimately sidelines Watts from the action almost completely.

Baumbach – whose previous credits include indie darlings The Squid and the Whale and Frances Ha – has cultivated a devoted fanbase based on not only his previous directorial efforts but also his work with acclaimed filmmaker Wes Anderson. The two men share writing credit on Anderson’s own The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and Fantastic Mr. Fox, and while it’s easy to see their similarly quirky storytelling techniques meshing well together, the difference between Baumbach and Anderson is vision. Just take a look at The Grand Budapest Hotel if you’re still skeptical.

While We’re Young is by no means a bad film. In fact, its ambition and natural charm go a long way towards winning audiences over. Still, the film sets out to provide a coming-of-age story for a married couple grappling with this next stage of their life, a theme recently covered more effectively by other comedies like This Is 40 and Neighbors. Despite its indie aspirations, While We’re Young mostly marks a missed opportunity for Baumbach and his cast. The film could have easily become an instant classic and an unforgettable commentary on the changing times, but it settles for simply being a solid release that raises but never really endeavors to answer life’s big questions.

Rating: 3 out of 5

While We’re Young stars Ben Stiller, Naomi Watts, Adam Driver, Amanda Seyfried and Charles Grodin. It is directed by Noah Baumbach and is now in theaters.