As the halfway point of the year rapidly approaches, I think I may have found my front-runner for favorite movie of 2013. The Way, Way Back is a coming of age story about a shy, introverted 14 year old boy named Duncan who is being dragged along on a summer vacation to his mother's boyfriend's beach house. First and foremost, this movie is absolutely hilarious. Sam Rockwell, in particular, is a comedic force. I'm a Rockwell guy, and never have I seen him be this funny. His delivery and charisma are among the things I enjoyed so much about last year's Seven Psychopaths, but in this film he is far funnier. He also brings a lot of poignancy to the role, which other actors might not have been able to pull off, while still maintaining the comedic elements. In addition to being a great comedy, The Way, Way Back brings a great array of pain and sadness, which reminded me of The Kids Are Alright and The Descendants and, of course, Little Miss Sunshine, the last of which Steve Carell and Toni Collette both star.
The teenager is beautifully played by Liam James, who you may know from his roles on the television shows The Killing and Psych. I had never seen him before, which made his character seem even more real and more relatable. He plays a quiet, reserved kid who is the product of recently divorced parents, which is a difficult situation made even worse by his mom dating a hard-partying middle-aged man named Trent, played vacuously by Steve Carell. Everyone in his life seems to be distancing themselves from Duncan, including his mother, who he so obviously needs to be by his side. Duncan's mom is being taken away from him by Trent, which causes feelings of resentment and angst. But these aren't your everyday teenage emotions, they are compounded by Trent speaking very negatively towards Duncan, claiming that he sees the teen as a 3 on a scale from 1 to 10. Duncan later asks, "Who says that to a person?"
Written and directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (who both also wrote The Descendants with Alexander Payne), The Way, Way Back, isn't your typical coming of age tale in that Duncan doesn't really make friends with kids his own age but rather becomes close with an older man who runs a decrepit local water park. That is where Rockwell comes in. He delivers an absolutely hilarious performance as Owen, a free-spirited jokester who hires Duncan to work for him at the Water Wizz. This finally gives Duncan not only a father figure to look up to but also a place where he can fit in; a place where he belongs; a place where people appreciate him and make him feel valuable. What else does a teenager need besides to feel like an important part of something? And that's what this movie is all about, "carving your own path," as Owen puts it.
Carell didn't impress me much in his role as the unlikeable boyfriend of Duncan's mom. Carell is one of our most gifted funnymen, and I've even enjoyed his more dramatic work in the past (Dan in Real Life, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World), but he didn't bring enough to this role to justify him being in it. I know the film isn't about him, necessarily, but I would have liked to see a different actor take on this role - perhaps someone who isn't quite so famously funny, like Timothy Olyphant or Kyle Chandler.
Along with Rockwell's superb comedic turn, Allison Janney, from The West Wing fame, is hilarious as a boozy neighbor who says some of the most inappropriate things you'll ever hear a mother say to her kids. (The eye patch gag killed me)
After watching this movie, I came away feeling more willing to lend an open ear when a teenager is going through a tough time. Rockwell's character offers this to Duncan and, in turn, ends up affecting the young man's life in dramatically positive ways. I also come away from the film thinking how important it is for parents to place more importance on spending time with their children than spending time with their friends. Duncan's mom and boyfriend seem to be in a perpetual state of inebriation, which causes him to feel even more alienated and abandoned from his mom.
I caught this movie with a friend of mine who is a member of Philadelphia Film Society, which is why we got to see it so far in advance of its release date, which I believe isn't until early July. I think this is going to be a sleeper hit this year, similar to how the aforementioned Little Miss Sunshine was seven years ago.
SPOILER TERRITORY...........
Written and directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (who both also wrote The Descendants with Alexander Payne), The Way, Way Back, isn't your typical coming of age tale in that Duncan doesn't really make friends with kids his own age but rather becomes close with an older man who runs a decrepit local water park. That is where Rockwell comes in. He delivers an absolutely hilarious performance as Owen, a free-spirited jokester who hires Duncan to work for him at the Water Wizz. This finally gives Duncan not only a father figure to look up to but also a place where he can fit in; a place where he belongs; a place where people appreciate him and make him feel valuable. What else does a teenager need besides to feel like an important part of something? And that's what this movie is all about, "carving your own path," as Owen puts it.
Carell didn't impress me much in his role as the unlikeable boyfriend of Duncan's mom. Carell is one of our most gifted funnymen, and I've even enjoyed his more dramatic work in the past (Dan in Real Life, Seeking a Friend for the End of the World), but he didn't bring enough to this role to justify him being in it. I know the film isn't about him, necessarily, but I would have liked to see a different actor take on this role - perhaps someone who isn't quite so famously funny, like Timothy Olyphant or Kyle Chandler.
Along with Rockwell's superb comedic turn, Allison Janney, from The West Wing fame, is hilarious as a boozy neighbor who says some of the most inappropriate things you'll ever hear a mother say to her kids. (The eye patch gag killed me)
After watching this movie, I came away feeling more willing to lend an open ear when a teenager is going through a tough time. Rockwell's character offers this to Duncan and, in turn, ends up affecting the young man's life in dramatically positive ways. I also come away from the film thinking how important it is for parents to place more importance on spending time with their children than spending time with their friends. Duncan's mom and boyfriend seem to be in a perpetual state of inebriation, which causes him to feel even more alienated and abandoned from his mom.
I caught this movie with a friend of mine who is a member of Philadelphia Film Society, which is why we got to see it so far in advance of its release date, which I believe isn't until early July. I think this is going to be a sleeper hit this year, similar to how the aforementioned Little Miss Sunshine was seven years ago.
SPOILER TERRITORY...........
- I think it would have been a MUCH more interesting story if it hadn't included a certain plot point that had to do with Steve Carell and Amanda Peet (I would have enjoyed it much better if the mom's boyfriend was just a dickhead and not a cheating dickhead)
- this would have given Duncan just enough of a reason to not like Trent without going overboard
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