The Way Way Back (2013)

Memorable, crazy movie

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I confess that I had never heard of this movie, and it just happened to be starting when I was channel surfing. I decided to stay with it, and am really glad that I did - this is one of the nicest, best-thought out movies that I have seen in a very long time. The performances were all excellent, the characters were very real and believable, and story was absolutely riveting.It's not just the 14-year-old protagonist who "comes of age," but all of the positive characters really show development and growth in this movie.

My sentiments largely echo those of the previous (chronological) review, although I'll bump my rating up a bit to four (4) stars. What a disappointing screenplay. The premise, while unoriginal, at least gave me the hope this would be something worth watching, even though I'm way beyond the target demographic. Liam James plays an introverted 14- year-old trying to blend into the beach town environment his family is visiting for a week or two. I could never quite figure out where this town was, whether it was on a lake or at the Jersey shore, or what. He winds up getting a job at the local water park which becomes his "home away from home". His family situation is dysfunctional, his mom's boyfriend (Steve Carell) is an overbearing jerk and most of the girls he encounters in their entourage won't give him the time of day. At the end of the two hours (I watched this on Fox Movie Channel) I found myself wishing I hadn't wasted the time. There wasn't a single character that seemed original or even very appealing. I can't say I was much impressed with Liam James' performance but he wasn't the only one. What is Maya Rudolph doing in this, or I could say why would someone cast her in such a role? You better look quick or you'll miss Amanda Peet in a very small, thankless role with hardly any lines. Toni Collette made no impression on me as Liam James' mother. The main guys at the water park were a bit odd, but not very interesting. Who wears hats like Sam Rockwell's anymore? Allison Janney attempted to breathe some life into the proceedings without much success. To conclude, at the end of the day, the movie couldn't figure out exactly what it wanted to be and I found it lacking in most every regard: Too bland, too clichéd, and too much miscasting.

Duncan (Liam James) is a 14-year-old boy who doesn't have many ambitions in life. His story is a basic coming of age story about a young, shy boy that doesn't quite know where he fits in the world. He is forced to go on vacation with his mom Pam (Toni Collette), her boyfriend Trent (Steve Carell), and Trent's daughter Steph (Zoe Levin). Duncan doesn't like Trent because he spends a lot of his time making him miserable with his condescending remarks and actions. This only leads Duncan to search for a way out of Trent's beach house. Duncan finds a little girl's pink bike in the garage and he takes off to explore. He rides through the town as happy as we have seen him throughout the entire movie. He ends up stumbling upon the Water Wizz where his life is about to change. He befriends Owen (Sam Rockwell) and he learns how to have confidence in himself and what it's like to have someone take him under their wing. He becomes friends with the entire staff and all the patrons of the park. Meanwhile, Duncan is also building a relationship with the girl next door, Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb) who under normal circumstances, he would be too shy to talk too. The directors, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, did a fantastic job of working with Duncan to make him seem as awkward as they could. They really had to sell that point in order to make the theme of this movie work. His posture, the way he carries himself, and even his tone of voice makes him look and sound inferior to others. I also enjoyed the sound effects of this movie, such as the off-screen sounds and the music. The music was always correlated to the tempo of the story. If Duncan was upset because of Trent, they played sad, slow music. When he was riding the bike through town or at the water park the music was faster/ more upbeat so we would feel happy with him. When Duncan is first exploring the town, he stops at a local pizza parlor and as soon as he walks in we can hear the sounds of a Pac-Man game in the background. The game is being played by Owen at the other end of the restaurant. The game draws Duncan in and starts a conversation between the two of them, which will eventually be the beginning of their friendship. This movie does a wonderful job of portraying what is it like to be a young boy and the obstacles he has to overcome as he ages. It depicts normal problems that lots of children have to deal with, just like the movie Sixteen Candles. Samantha is trying to figure out where she fits in her world as well. To make matters worse, her entire family forgets her 16th birthday because of her sister's wedding, but she does get her a wonderful surprise at the end of the movie. She gets her birthday kiss from the boy she has a crush on, Jake. Duncan doesn't like his mother's boyfriend, but because of Trent's beach house, he has the best summer of his life. Duncan also gets his kiss from Susanna at the end of the movie, as well. After all is said and done with, Duncan is able to overcome his shyness and see his true worth. He may not know exactly where he fits in, but he is in a much better place than he was at the beginning of the movie.

I rated this movie a 2 out of 10. It had a few funny scenes thanks to Allison J., but even her character was over the top and never turned off. That was my main "problem" with this movie was all the over the top/extreme personalities of just about every character. Nobody is like this in real life, all the time. Now let me go into the most "oh come on already" characters of this extreme Hollywood wanna be Indie, deep movie. The kid, Duncan. This kid made me feel so uncomfortable the entire time. From his dark purple lips and bleached out skin, to his long unnatural arms with huge hands and head. Now not trying to be mean, but I thought he had some kind of giantism and was autistic, had to come to trust my IMDb and read his page to find out I was wrong. He crossed the "shy, finding himself" feel to plain old creepy and mentally disabled. Couldn't relate with him at all other than feeling sorry for him by the way every one "treated" him and completely ignored him. Which brings me to the mother..Toni Collete. I love her. Always have. But I've never been so disgusted with a female character in my life. Just completely ignoring and watching some boyfriend completely ridicule and put down your obviously different son, non-stop, everywhere was just completely annoying and angering. Yes, let's strap on a HUGE red life vest on this kid with a whole group of people, but he is the ONLY one that has to wear it because your boyfriend said so. And on top of that, let's ALL just completely ignore the fact the kid is sitting in the shade by himself looking like he is about to kill himself, and all just laugh and have a good old time, only glancing over and showing some kind of "aw" once in awhile, but go right back to the group fun! What a great mom!!! If I were that kid I would have told her to shove it up where the sun don't shine and never speak to her again. That kind of mental abuse is not funny or she just needed to see it herself and figure it out. No. She needed to be slapped in the face and take her mom card away. Oh but she climbs in the "way way back" at the end and give him the "op, sorry I was the worst mother alive for the last few weeks, putting some strange man before you repeadtly in front of everyone, but I look sorry so we are good, right? Cool." NO. Steve C. played the a-hole bf OK, at first. It got to a point of just ridiculousness and unreal by the end. The kid breaks out of the car to sprint to the water park last minute, shocking, and they go in to find him and Steve yells "What are we doing here, c'mon!!!" Yes, like he is expecting everyone to be like "oh, he is in the water park..he likes it there, who's hungry, let's just keep going." Over the top, unrealistic and annoying. Like most the movie. Brings me to pretty much every character from the water park. Annoying, annoying, over the top, unrealistic and did I say annoying?? The gross water slide guy and his 1 minute way too long of "hold it, still holding" annoyance was so stupid. Yes some 40 something year old creep is going to keep some teenage girl standing here as all 3 of them obviously stare at her body is OK and like she wouldn't notice and become skeeved out and leave. Disgusting. Sam R.'s character was the typical, laid back, don't care, super cool, can eff off all summer and in life, but not until the girl he likes puts him in his place in a random 5 second scene, was all he needed to start growing up and be a man. And don't get me started with the dancing scene at the water park. "You can have the cardboard, but you gotta dance for it" as they all stand around and clap and support his autistic awkward dancing, and don't forget the girl showing him all those rocking moves such as the robot! You know kids just LOVE the robot, it's just so cool!!! Barf. This movie was cute-ish, and had some good humor, but overall was a typical Hollywood script you could call 10 minutes before it happen and was beyond corny and campy and everything I can't stand in a movie.