“We’re in this together,” is a saying that runs through the entirety of The Way, Way Back, but for the most part it sounds like a line of bullshit from a character you’ll soon come to despise. However, it’s the characters that aren’t saying it, but instead prove their devotion through actions rather than words that hit so hard. For a film that initially seems like it may be just another B-level formulaic dramedy, it’s the subtle touches that give it much more weight.
Nat Faxon and Jim Rash‘s debut screenplay for The Descendants won an Oscar. For their follow-up they decided to not only write the screenplay but take a stab at directing. That said, if The Descendants and The Way, Way Back are a reliable sign of the quality films these two plan on delivering over the coming years, you may as well add all of their upcoming projects to your most anticipated lists.
The Way, Way Back is one of the few films from the Summer 2013 movie season you’ll remember over the coming years, not for its ability to blow stuff up or its third act reveal, but for the heart it wears on its sleeve and the genuine human emotion it evokes.
At the outset The Way, Way Back doesn’t seem like anything more than your typical story of a 14-year-old introvert whose having issues with his recently separated parents. His father has moved to San Diego and promises to have him out to visit as soon as things settle down, but for now he’s tagging along with his mother (Toni Collette) and her current boyfriend, Trent (Steve Carell), and his daughter Steph (Zoe Levin) on a trip to Trent’s beach house for the summer.
The 14-year-old in question is Duncan (Liam James) and we first meet him as he stares blankly out of the back window of Trent’s station wagon. His mother is asleep in the front seat, Steph is listening to music and Trent asks him a question, “How do you see yourself Duncan?” Duncan, at first unwilling to respond, finally gives in, “A six!”
“You see, I think you’re more of a three,” Trent replies. The lines have been drawn, and for the most part you’re going to be able to see where much of the film goes from there. Described as a “dysfunctional family comedy”, The Way, Way Back is rather formulaic in its plotting, but it’s the casting and the small character choices made throughout that make it such an open-hearted winner.
The first act is a little clunky in its setup, with Duncan painted as a massive introvert, but at the same time we understand his unwillingness to connect with Trent and his frustration with his mother who seems to be clinging to anything that can offer her some semblance of stabilization. The film maintains momentum, however, through laughter and its characters, the first standout being Trent’s next door neighbor played by the always-reliable Allison Janney. Never seen without a drink in her hand, she too is having marital issues and her daughter, Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb), like Duncan, is caught in the middle. And as much as it would seem the story is going to center on the coming together of Duncan and Susanna in a moment of “Hey! We’re the same!” Rash and Faxon have something a little better in mind.
During one of his many daytime excursions, on a pink beach cruiser he finds in Trent’s garage, Duncan encounters Owen (Sam Rockwell), manager at the local Water Wizz water park. A kid at heart, but recognizing Duncan’s inability to connect, Owen invites Duncan to work at the water park for the summer and a whole new world opens up to him. The obvious nature of this narrative can make you, understandably, a little standoff-ish, but Rash and Faxon don’t rush the film’s developments, using all 103 minutes in the film’s favor.
As the lovable man-child, Rockwell gives another typically fantastic performance and one I would love to suggest the Academy will recognize at the end of the year, but he’s been turning in work like this for ages only to continue to be overlooked. Oh well, at least I know when I say “another typical Rockwell performance” fans of his work know “typical” for Rockwell is genius-level for others.
James is great as Duncan, Robb is growing into a nice young actress and the decision to cast Carell as Trent was perfect. So often we associate Carell with comedy and/or run-of-the-mill “good guy” roles so when we first meet him I wasn’t quite prepared for his character, almost wondering to myself, Is this guy really the asshole I think he is? Sure enough, he is and Carell plays it perfectly. And Collette, like the rest of the cast, is great even if her character is one we’d like to sit down and give a good talking to.
The title is a bit of an interesting addition, playing on the opening and closing scenes of Duncan sitting by himself, facing the rear window in the back of Trent’s station wagon. Duncan’s not only in the back seat, he’s in the way, way back, and just before the movie comes to a close, the saying I mentioned at the top of this review bubbles back to the surface. It’s not said, it’s felt and what better show of support and solidarity than the affirmation from a loved one that… we’re in this together.
