Film: The Way Way Back (2013)
Directors:
Nat Faxon, Jim RashWriters:
Nat Faxon, Jim RashStars:
Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janne
Coming-of-age movie with an awkward fourteen-year old, Duncan, in an awkward situation: a vacation with Mom (Toni Collette) in her new boyfriend's house in the beach (Steve Carell). The title of the film is intriguing. Is Duncan longing for a father that left him and his mom for a younger girl in California? Or is it referring about remembering how we found our paths and discovered ourselves in our teen years? Or is it the physical space in the car where Duncan finds himself sitting, an old station wagon with one seat looking towards the past, the family that was, while other seats to the future, the family that may be. Or not. In fact. it may have all of these meanings and more. While the title may be multi-layered, the film is a bit too familiar.
Steve Carell plays his role straight and deviates from his likable characters. He has played assholes before, but usually they are counterbalanced by goofiness or silliness. Not this one. He's just an asshole and sometimes quite mean. What mom sees in him, is exactly what Duncan is wondering throughout the movie.
In this film, adults behave like teens (they are on vacation...) and teens are more like adults. No family seems to be in balance. The neighbor also is divorced (but she has no one else), another couple has no children (and the wife likes to screw around). To counterpoint Duncan's gloom he escapes by biking around in a girl's bike (less humiliating then staying with Carell) and finds another father figure in Sam Rockwell. He also finds an older girlfriend. She also can not stand the adults, her goofy but hapless mom, and just about all other teens. But she does like Duncan. His awkwardness fits well with her aloofness.
Sam Rockwell is the owner of a Water Park and he is one crazy fun guy. Obviously, Rockwell chews the scenery every chance he has. There are shadows of Fanny and Alexandria here, the vacation house means dread and gloom while the water park is fun and games. But here there is no Magic and of course, no Bergman, and this is where the film begins to falter. It is that road well travelled of "finding yourself" and "being someone" movie. This is where I have a problem with American films of this nature, it does not know where it wants to go. There is good acting, good lines, character well defined, but saturated in common place. This is an independent film (or at least it has that feeling) so why fall into the formulas? The dramatic scene of Duncan exposing the not-so-virtuous Carell in the middle of a BBQ and realizing a feat in the water park that "no one has ever done before" is like feeding candy to a kid. It gives us a sugar high, but a meal would have been much more satisfying.
Carell in the beginning of the film tells Duncan he is a "3", regretfully this film is a 2.
Steve Carell plays his role straight and deviates from his likable characters. He has played assholes before, but usually they are counterbalanced by goofiness or silliness. Not this one. He's just an asshole and sometimes quite mean. What mom sees in him, is exactly what Duncan is wondering throughout the movie.
In this film, adults behave like teens (they are on vacation...) and teens are more like adults. No family seems to be in balance. The neighbor also is divorced (but she has no one else), another couple has no children (and the wife likes to screw around). To counterpoint Duncan's gloom he escapes by biking around in a girl's bike (less humiliating then staying with Carell) and finds another father figure in Sam Rockwell. He also finds an older girlfriend. She also can not stand the adults, her goofy but hapless mom, and just about all other teens. But she does like Duncan. His awkwardness fits well with her aloofness.
Sam Rockwell is the owner of a Water Park and he is one crazy fun guy. Obviously, Rockwell chews the scenery every chance he has. There are shadows of Fanny and Alexandria here, the vacation house means dread and gloom while the water park is fun and games. But here there is no Magic and of course, no Bergman, and this is where the film begins to falter. It is that road well travelled of "finding yourself" and "being someone" movie. This is where I have a problem with American films of this nature, it does not know where it wants to go. There is good acting, good lines, character well defined, but saturated in common place. This is an independent film (or at least it has that feeling) so why fall into the formulas? The dramatic scene of Duncan exposing the not-so-virtuous Carell in the middle of a BBQ and realizing a feat in the water park that "no one has ever done before" is like feeding candy to a kid. It gives us a sugar high, but a meal would have been much more satisfying.
Carell in the beginning of the film tells Duncan he is a "3", regretfully this film is a 2.
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