While We're Young Is the Baumbach Film Without Gerwig

By The Backlot

@backlotfriends

A man wrapped in a brown fringe shawl and a woman in a puffer jacket sit side by side on a brownstone stoop.

Noah Baumbach wrote While We're Young alone, without Greta Gerwig. That detail matters.

Baumbach met Gerwig in her mid-20s while making Greenberg, when he was around 40. The film's premise maps almost directly onto that experience: a documentary filmmaker in his early 40s whose creative life is reinvigorated by a younger couple. But the films he made with Gerwig, Frances Ha and Mistress America, are warm. While We're Young, which he wrote solo, is a trap. The young couple is the villain.

He also wrote the role of Josh specifically for Ben Stiller. It was the first time in their two collaborations that he knew the casting before finishing the script.

It's on Max. People on Backlot are watching it right now. Worth watching back to back with Frances Ha to see which Baumbach you prefer.

Quick Facts

While We're Young Is the Baumbach Film Without Gerwig

DirectorNoah Baumbach

CastBen Stiller, Naomi Watts, Adam Driver, Amanda Seyfried, Charles Grodin

GenreComedy, Drama

Release2015-03-27

Runtime97 min

Rated6.0/10

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Noah Baumbach wrote While We're Young alone, without Greta Gerwig. In that version, the young people are the villains. It's on Max. #Baumbach #Backlot

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Noah Baumbach wrote While We're Young alone. His films with Gerwig are warm. The one he wrote solo turns the young couple into frauds. It's on Max. #Backlot

Noah Baumbach wrote While We're Young alone, without Greta Gerwig. That detail matters.

He also wrote the role of Josh specifically for Ben Stiller. It was the first time in their two collaborations that he knew the casting before finishing the script.

It's on Max. People on Backlot are watching it right now. Worth watching back to back with Frances Ha to see which Baumbach you prefer.