The Way Way Back has gotten some very good reviews. This is not one of them …
The Way Way Back (Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Sam Rockwell, Allison Janney, Liam James) – Adventureland meets Dan in Real Life meets any Nicolas Sparks’ movie adaptation, The Way Way Back is your run-of-the-mill, coming-of-age film. Read that italic and hyphen-laden sentence, and you know about all you need to about this relatively slow-paced movie from writers/directors/actors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash.
What the film lacks in action, it gains in interesting people portraits. There is the semi-desperate, single, divorced mom (Collette) who is hooked up with the oversexed, cocky divorced boyfriend (Carrel). The couple takes their respective kids to the beach for the summer (apparently no one in this film has a job?). The kooky, wacky, “lit-up” neighbor (Janney) is also divorced, without a job, and is the resident busybody and fun-loving plucky sidekick. There is the off-beat couple (played by Amanda Peet and Rob Corddry) who hangs around. He is oblivious to the fact that his girlfriend/wife (we never know which) flirts with Carell’s character even though the entire audience, the rest of the cast, and perhaps the NSA know it’s true.
Anyhow, the kids may be the only truly interesting story. The shy, maturing boy, Duncan (young Liam James), hates the whole idea of being at the beach with mom’s boyfriend. The girl loves the beach and her friends but quickly finds out that her old boyfriend doesn’t have the time for her anymore. Then there’s the girl next door. Her wacky mom makes her wince and she really isn’t into the “cool” girls. But she is intrigued by the new boy in town. Meanwhile, he goes looking for something to do and a way to escape. Heading out on a pink girl’s bike he finds in the garage, Duncan heads over to the local water park.
Surprise! we find a bunch of amusement park stereotypes: the general manager (Rockwell) who never seems to work; the assistant manager (Maya Rudolph) who does all the work and has a sweet spot for the manager; the misfit (Rash himself); and the good-looking lecher (Faxon himself). They become Duncan’s friends and families.
From here, everything becomes totally predictable. The script is unsurprising. But the acting is good from top to bottom. The characters are interesting, if unoriginal. If only the story took a turn we didn’t expect, this might be a very good film. Instead, its main audience will be an indie flick crowd. This will go away quickly but could become a cult film. It is not as good as Adventureland (that is an amusement park film worth seeing), which explains why this summer picture has no chance of getting any award nominations. If you want to go to the movies and not see one of those ubiquitous comic book hero films, The Way Way Back is okay counter-programming and that is about all.