The Way Way Back

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In the months leading up to The Way Way Back's release, I kept asking myself why it had that title. When I finally sat down in the theater to see it, I noticed the movie opened up with a shot of 14-year-old Duncan sitting in the way way back of the car. Cue the internal "oooooohhhhh." Coincidentally, the film ends with a very similar shot. Maybe that's not even the real meaning of the title. Maybe I missed some deeper meaning or underlying themes. If I did, oh well.

Duncan and his mom Pam (the astoundingly-talented Toni Collette) head down to the cape with Pam's boyfriend Trent (Steve Carell) and his daughter. As we literally see from the start, Duncan wants no part of this journey to build a new family, instead preferring to go live with his father. 

Clearly a social hermit, Duncan finds solace from his 3-month hell trip at Water Wizz, a water park within biking distance from Trent's house on Cape Cod. After bonding with the owner, Owen, and the staff one day, Owen offers him a job, which Duncan gleefully accepts. Over the course of the rest of the film, Duncan begins to come out of his shell with Owen's help while confronting the issues that lie behind the threshold of his mom's boyfriend's home. 

The film offers what seems to be a pretty accurate insight into the mind of a 14-year-old boy like Duncan. He's portrayed by Liam James, an unknown to those who haven't watched "Psych" or "The Killing" on TV. Liam gives it his all here, especially in the scenes that demand much of him dramatically. Thanks to him, we have a truly charming and likable lead heading this movie. However, the movie's scene-stealer was clearly Allison Janney, a marginally alcoholic neighbor of Trent. Both the lines given to her character and Janney's performance made for one of the best parts of the movie.

Did Steve Carell really deliver Trent to me? Steve Carell, as an unfaithful, ignorant, and casually cruel father figure? He began to sell me towards the end, but overall, I saw him as Michael Scott on a bad day and with an occasional temper. I will give him props for one key thing - they way he called Duncan "buddy" while clearly sending no endearment with the sentiment. 

This movie is a sheer delight. It's worth going out of your way for, and the first movie of 2013 I can honestly say I'm excited to watch again in the near future. But in the advertisements, you'll see it's "from the studio that brought you Little Miss Sunshine and Juno," and was written and directed by 2 of the 3 Oscar Winning writers of The Descendants. Does this movie compare to these three Oscar-winners for Best Screenplay? The answer: no - but only for one reason. In all three of those other movies, it is the characters that are well established, who are then placed in situations that further the plot. Here, we are presented with interesting and plot-furthering scenes, but don't always care about the underdeveloped characters that are the scene's key players. As seen by The Descendants, Juno, and Little Miss Sunshine, characters should be priority one. As long as we care about them, the situations they get into will take care of themselves. 

Rating: 4.5/5