Summer can suck when you've got no job, no girlfriend, and your mom's boyfriend rates you a three out of ten as a person. That's the wonderful life of Duncan (Liam James), a misfit teen in the new comedy-drama The Way, Way Back.
When Duncan accompanies his mother (Toni Collette) to her boyfriend's (Steve Carell) beach house for the summer, his life seems to get a whole lot worse. But it also gets better"”and so does the movie. Allison Janney injects lots of life as a chatty, tipsy neighbor during the first third of the film (and throughout).
Ultimately, this family drama suffers from a weak and predictable storyline"”until we get to the water park scenes where Sam Rockwell saves the day. His character is infectious and the most memorable. Whenever the movie shifts from the vibrant water park scenes to the domestic ones, the movie drags because there's not enough plot or character development to keep our interest.
Written and directed by Jim Rash (Dean Pelton on Community) and Nat Faxon (Ben on Ben and Kate), the same writing duo that won an Oscar with Alexander Payne for Best Adapted Screenplay on The Descendants, return to show that their work was no fluke. And it isn't.
Although this story is meant to be small and personal, the filmmakers have plenty of opportunities to take certain relationships, flesh them out, and make them memorable. However, the most memorable thing about this movie may be its ability to make us think of moments in our lives we will never forget. So, when we do look back, it shouldn't be because of our longing for the past. It should be for the reminder of what gave us the strength to move forward.
