Review 271: The Way, Way Back

The Way, Way Back is wonderfully touching and painful comedy that takes us all back - way, way back to a time in our own childhoods when we were trying to work out who we were.

Shy 14-year-old Duncan (Liam James) goes on a summer holiday with his mom, Pam (Toni Collette) her idiotic boyfriend, Trent (Steve Carell) and his daughter, Steph (Zoe Levin). Having a rough time fitting in, Duncan finds an unexpected friend in Owen (Sam Rockwell), manager of the Water Wizz water park.

The plot is so heartwarming, funny and heartbreaking at the same time: an odd mixture that works unusually well. It brings together the universal problems of of growing up, fighting our parents and finding our way in life. On the subject of fighting our parents: Duncan isn't fighting his mom and her boyfriend because he's rebellious, his mum and stepfather seem to have forgotten completely what it's like to be a teenager and half the time they forget he even exists.

We see it's not just teens who behave irresponsibly this is also a story about parents behaving irresponsibly: Duncan's mom is blind to the fact that Trent is not the man she thought he was and verges on cruel to Duncan.        

When you're a teen there's a conflict between wanting to look cool and make real friends. Duncan learns it's more important to have real friends than be cool and who better to teach him this lesson than Owen, who proves to be a friend and guide.

The film has some jokes that normally wouldn't make me laugh e.g. there's a scene where three boys become stuck in a slide at a water park and Owen sends a kid down to unblock them. Normally if I saw that I would say "thats not funny" but here it really made me laugh.

Writer/directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash's direction is sensitive and precise, the cinematography is gorgeous, the locations are stunning, the soundtrack by Rob Simonsen is beautiful, the production design is tremendous, the costumes are magnificent, the scenery is breathtaking, the jokes are well placed and expertly staged and the ending was superb.

The film is wonderfully acted, Liam James is absolutely mesmirising as Duncan, he's a troubled and insecure teenager and the way he matures and becomes more self confident is a journey everyone can relate to. Steve Carell is just nasty as Trent, he's rude to Duncan, he disrespects him and treat him (as I mentioned before) like he's not there. He's a character you really hate. Toni Collette is heartbreaking as Duncan's mom, she totally blind to Trent's behavior and she unintentionally mistreats Duncan which for me makes her a traggic character. Allison Janney is nuts as Betty. She's wonderful as this hard drinking, crazy mom who is fussing over her two kids. Sam Rockwell however steals the show as Owen, he's acts as a kind of mentor to Duncan and really helps him come into his own as a person. Plus he throughs out some hilarious wisecracks. AnnaSophia Robb is fantastic as Susanna, Betty's daughter, like Duncan she hates it at the seaside town and ultimatlely becomes someone Duncan can bond with.
On top of that, the rest of cast (Rob Corddry, Amanda Peet, Maya Rudolph, River Alexander and Jim Rash who has some hilarious scenes as Lewis, an employe at Water Wizz) is wonderful.

The Way, Way Back is a film that's full of surprises and a film that everyone can relate to.

Please comment and subscribe, 5/5.

The Anonymous Critic.