This Is Our Youth: Inert and Amusing

“You think what you think and I think what I think and there’s no way we’re ever going to convince each other, so my suggestion is that we just drop it.” This Is Our Youth: Inert and AmusingThis is Our Youth, a play about spoiled Manhattan kids adrift in their inertia, opened on Broadway last week to some acclaim. Starring Michael Cera, Kieran Culkin and Tavi Gevinson, the story doesn’t go anywhere – something like Waiting for Godot but with more of an actual plot – but offers oddly astute and amusing moments. This Is Our Youth: Inert and AmusingCera’s deadpan delivery and Gevinson’s overwrought performance flesh out the writing of Kenneth Lonergan with an effect that is surprisingly both grating and thought-provoking. While the message isn’t a new one – bombastic youth pontificating on truth at each other – it does remind us of our own confused aspirations, something best paraphrased by King Oscar II of Sweden in 1923. This Is Our Youth: Inert and AmusingOne who has not been a socialist before 25 has no heart. If one remains one after 25, he has no head.

One thought on “This Is Our Youth: Inert and Amusing

  1. Reading your review makes the play more interesting than I actually remember it. May it be the writer in you?

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