Ben Stiller has lately perfected the role of the flawed but mostly likable aging man in indie dramedies about flawed but mostly likable white people. These movies—Greenberg, While We’re Young—are also quite good, which is why we welcome the trailer for Stiller’s next film, Brad’s Status.
Brad’s Status follows Stiller’s Brad as he accompanies his precocious son on his college tours throughout the East Coast, which triggers (you guessed it) a midlife crisis—especially when Brad compares his comfortable married suburban life with the lives of his old college buddies, a major political player (Michael Sheen), a hedge-fund owner (Luke Wilson), and a Silicon Valley–type entrepreneur (Jemaine Clement).
While the movie doesn’t exactly look like it will break new cinematic ground, there’s one more reason, beyond the cast, to keep an eye on it: It’s the first feature film in years to be written and directed by Mike White, the screenwriter, actor, and director behind the HBO series Enlightened as well as the screenplays for movies as varied as Chuck & Buck and School of Rock. Brad’s Status comes out in theaters on Sept. 15.
