The Way Way Back
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Toni Collette, Steve Carrell, Liam James
Directed By: Jim Rash and Nat Faxon
Reviewed by Brendan Dousi
[rating: 4/5]
As you watch this film you may realise, as I did, that there haven’t been a lot of good, traditional coming-of-age stories in a while. The last probably being the not un-similar Adventureland. Unfortunately these story-lines seem to be reserved mostly for woeful Disney Channel tv-movies, but every so often a more grounded, adult drama takes this age-old story and gives it a go. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. In The Way Way Back’s case, it works pretty damn well.
The Way Way Back, a joint directorial/writing effort from The Descendants screenwriters Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, tells the story of Duncan (Liam James) and his summer at his Mother’s (Toni Collette) jerky boyfriend Trent’s (Steve Carrell) beach-front holiday home. Awkward and quiet, Duncan has a rough start to his holiday, only finding solace in stunted yet adorable conversations with the older girl next door, Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb). Things turn around, however, when free-spirited Water Park manager Owen (Sam Rockwell) takes Duncan under his wing, employs him for the summer and not-so-gracefully forces him out of his shell. Things start to fall apart, though, when Trent starts to push the relationship between Duncan and his Mother.
Admittedly, this certainly sounds like your average coming of age story, and at face value it doesn’t try to be anything other than that. On a deeper level, it hits all the right pangs and notes needed to truly resound with anyone who has once been that awkward teenager who had a little trouble fitting in and opening up. While not overly stylised, Rash and Faxon did a fine job bringing their impressive script to light. There are ups, there are downs and there are many, many laughs to be had in this truly wonderful, yet simple screenplay which only suffers briefly from early pacing issues and very slightly stunted character development.
The true winner, however, is the absolute stellar casting of every single character in this film. Toni Collette as the pained and unsure mother, Steve Carrell as her dickish boyfriend, Allison Janney as the hilariously drunken neighbour, AnnaSophia Robb as her suffering daughter and the perfect girl next door, Sam Rockwell as the Water Park Manager who never grew up, Mia Rudolph as his long-suffering love interest and Liam James gives an impressively dorky performance as our leading man, Duncan. Everyone is at their finest and it just elevates an already good film into a great one. Faxon and Rash even pull a Tarantino and pop up as two hilarious and charming Water Park attendants (luckily they didn’t try for accents i.e. Django Unchained).
While some of the adults leave a little character development to be desired, the core of the story about Duncan is pulled off tremendously well. You see everything through his eyes and feel everything he feels. This is easily one of the best films of the year so far and a refreshing change from all the building-toppling that’s been cluttering our screens lately. The perfect film for anyone looking for something a little smaller but with a whole lot of heart.
