brad's status

Brad (Ben Stiller) is distressed about his status. He feels inadequate compared to his college buddies who have gone off to have ridiculously luxurious lives of private planes, escapades, and dwelling spreads in Architectural Digest. In the midst of his crisis--or perhaps at the very root of this crisis--Brad's son Troy (Austin Abrams) is about to go to college, and the two are off to travel from Sacramento across the coast to tour the top choice, Harvard. Brad is either hazily unaware or willfully unaware of his son's plans and dreams. Mike White's carefully directed picture follows the two--with run-ins with coeds and an old friend of Brad, now a famed political commentator (Michael Sheen)--utilizing Stiller's dryly aching voice-overs to great effect. Like Brad's cloistered, heady character, the picture doesn't stretch too far but offers up some amusing ruminations through his slightly exaggerated inner thoughts. The acting and witty casting choices all around are strong and some scenes shine in their depictions of awkward human interaction (especially a dinner scene between Sheen and Stiller). The brittle violin score (by Mark Mothersbaugh) adds to the muted absurdity and sadness within Brad's neuroses as does an inspired use of Dvořák's "Humoresque." If one takes Brad's litany of complaints as droll rather than irritating, the movie has a sly emotional impact. It's not a transformative picture, but welcome as a closely attached character study, even if the central character is melancholy company. ***

-Jeffery Berg

while we're young

The doldrums of adulthood and the yearning for youth isn't new territory for film, especially lately. Hit-or-miss but always interesting Noah Baumbach, who created the effervescent, sweetly affecting Frances Ha returns to the prolonged adolescence of gentrifying Brooklynites in While We're Young set to the same Vivaldi ditty from Kramer vs. Kramer. Ben Stiller (of Baumbach's tart Greenberg) and Naomi Watts (more free and funny than usual) are naturals at the helm, respectively playing a struggling documentary filmmaker and the daughter of a respected one (a solid, gruffly straightforward Charles Grodin), who ditch their baby-saddled couple friends for two put-upon hipsters Jamie (Adam Driver) and the suitably-named Darby (Amanda Seyfried) who live in a Bushwick apartment stocked with vinyl and VHS. At first glance, the youths seem relatively harmless and indifferent but once their devious natures are revealed, somewhat predictably, the aging couple re-examines their relationship.

For a comedy, it's imaginatively edited by Jennifer Lame with quick cuts of ironic, pop culture touchstones (Baumbach is good at those--like the paper sleeve of Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot CD or the rippling, red-screened FBI warning of the Howling video--another film about innocents who fall prey to a circle of predatory cult-ish individuals). Veteran costumer Ann Roth's apparel is vividly pitch perfect (those hats and coats! Naomi's sleek, black Lincoln Center get-up!). Overall the film doesn't feel that original and occasionally the jokes fall flat (a rambling foray into an ayahuasca ceremony feels more like sloppy Apatow than acute Allen), nor does it soar to the heights of picaresque Ha, but when the movie hits some complex notes (the ending especially), it's a sharp blade. ***

-Jeffery Berg

directors roundtable

The Directors have a conversation this time.

Steve  McQueen (12 Years a Slave), Paul  Greengrass (Captain Phillips), David  O. Russell (American Hustle), Ben  Stiller (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty), Alfonso Cuaron (Gravity) and Lee Daniels (The Butler)

Lots of love and respect for Cuaron from his colleagues; plus O. Russell mentioning he's written a horror movie for Eli Roth (interesting!).