Jill Kolb
CCE CONTRIBUTOR
The Way Way Back is a charming, funny, serious, yet quirky ode to awkward teenage summer vacations. Screenwriters Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (co-writers of The Descendants, along with Alexander Payne) get it right.
In their directorial debut, Faxon and Rash set the tone of the film with the opening scene of Trent (Steve Carell) pestering his sleeping girl friend Pam’s (Toni Collette) shy 14 year-old teenage son Duncan (Liam James) on their way to his summer cottage, asking Duncan to rate himself as a person. Moviegoers feel the tension as Carell exposes his character’s need to humiliate. It is clear from this interaction that Duncan is going to have to brave a summer full of Trent.
Awkward scenes continue as they arrive at Trent’s cottage; Trent, Pam, Duncan and Trent’s daughter Steph (Zoe Levin) are greeted by the cottage neighbour Betty (Allison Janney), an overly friendly drunk who has a propensity to invite herself, lazy-eyed son Peter (River Alexander) and disinterested daughter – Duncan’s love interest -Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb) everywhere. As the hodgepodge nuclear family settles in to summer beach life, Duncan is increasingly lost in a sea of adults who all, including his mother, treat him with a mild neglect.
Nevertheless, hope comes in the form of a water park. The manager Owen (Sam Rockwell) befriends Duncan offering him a much needed friendship and solace from Trent’s cottage. Rockwell shines as the lovable and charming comedic Owen. Owen and Caitlin, along with park employees Lewis (Jim Rash) and Roddy (Nat Faxon) encourage Duncan, accepting him for who he is.
This colourful cast, completed by Trent’s married friends Kip (Rob Corddry) and Joan (Amanda Peet), are seamless, offering real and remarkably relatable portrayals. Themes of embarrassment, kindness, personal growth and settling for less are dealt with creatively and with a grounded sense of honestly and humor.
In the end, The Way Way Back brings to light the most common of human desires, to be loved and to find a place to belong.
