Review: The Way, Way Back (2013)

Cast: Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney
Director: Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
Country: USA
Genre: Comedy | Drama
Official Trailer: Here

Editor’s Notes: The Way, Way Back opens tomorrow. Check your local listings for showtimes.

Winning an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay can get you many things, chief among them the occasional opportunity to write and direct your next film. For the Academy-Award winning writing-directing duo of Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (The Descendants), that opportunity turned into The Way, Way Back, an emotionally resonant, deeply affecting coming-of-age comedy-drama centered around a key summer in the life of a socially maladjusted, misunderstood teen. Despite a modest budget light on spectacular visual effects and stunt-heavy set pieces, The Way, Way Back is every bit as engaging, every bit as engrossing, and every bit as entertaining as anything out this summer with a budget 10 or even 15 times its budget.

…an emotionally resonant, deeply affecting coming-of-age comedy-drama centered around a key summer in the life of a socially maladjusted, misunderstood teen.

When we meet Duncan (Liam Jones), he’s quietly brooding in the back seat of a station wagon, the seemingly unwilling prisoner of his mother Pam’s (Toni Colette) desire to move on with her life after her divorce to Duncan’s father. The new man in Pam’s life, Trent (Steve Carell), has the relative wealth and social standing, not to mention an easy way with words when it comes to charming Pam, to make him a veritable lock for the position of Duncan’s future, unwanted stepfather. To Duncan, Trent’s nothing if not antagonistic, bullying him into answering an unanswerable question (i.e., ranking himself on a scale of 1-10), while Pam and Trent’s teen daughter, Steph (Zoe Levin), nap on their way to Trent’s summer home on the Massachusetts shore. It’s a brutal exchange, a verbal assault on Duncan that makes him instantly relatable and likeable and Trent the exact opposite.

While Pam’s relationship with Trent might be understandable, any hints of redemption for Trent aren’t forthcoming, leaving Duncan to find potential friends and role models. He finds the former in Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb), the age-appropriate daughter of Trent’s next door neighbor, Betty (Allison Janney). Almost immediately, Betty reveals herself to be a near-alcoholic with an unwanted propensity for truth telling. It’s a credit to Faxon and Rash’s writing, however, that there’s more to Betty than over-drinking and over-sharing. In short, there’s a flawed character behind the apparent caricature. Steph’s contemptuous, mean-girl treatment of Duncan seems like an extension of Trent’s, but with his mother nearly oblivious to his mistreatment, Duncan hops on a pink girl’s bike and runs away for the day.

Duncan finds a sanctuary of sorts in the nearby Water Wizz, a recreational water park badly run (when it’s being run at all), by Owen (Sam Rockwell). Owen essentially represents Trent’s mirror opposite. He’s a lifetime slacker with an anti-authoritarian attitude and a philosophy to match. He also sees something of himself in Duncan, initially taking him in out of curiosity and later giving him a job. While Owen proves to be the role model Duncan needs (and wants), Trent proves to be something far less during their evenings together. One character describes their summers as “spring break for adults” and the adults, including Pam, behave or rather misbehave accordingly, setting up a contrast not just between Trent and Owen, but the choices they offer Duncan (i.e., an inauthentic life vs. an authentic one).

The Way, Way Back rarely strays from the familiar coming-of-age template, but when it does, it offers more than a few honest, if not necessarily unique, insights into the often problematic nature of relationships between parents and their children…

The Way, Way Back rarely strays from the familiar coming-of-age template, but when it does, it offers more than a few honest, if not necessarily unique, insights into the often problematic nature of relationships between parents and their children, between adults and teens, between and among adults, and between and among teens. At times, it seems obvious that Faxon and Rash based at least some of Duncan’s experiences on their own. Both Faxon and Rash appear in The Way, Way Back, albeit in non-essential roles as longtime water-park employees. Rash plays Lewis, a perpetually cynical pessimist (he’s worked there too long) torn between wanting to leave the water park for as yet undefined adventures and wanting to stay (familiarity doesn’t only breed contempt, sometimes it breeds comfort).

Faxon and Rash’s directorial debut also benefits from a uniformly excellent cast, from the relatively inexperienced Liam Jones (The Killing) to pro’s pros like Toni Colette and Steve Carell (reuniting for the first time since they appeared together in Little Miss Sunshine six years ago). Amanda Peet and Rob Corddry give note-perfect performances Joan and Kip, respectively, another couple that function, in their way, as a mirror of Trent and Pam’s possible future together. Then again, they’re just as fortunate that they’re working from a screenplay filled with well-rounded characters and finely honed, naturalistic dialogue, both a likely testament to Faxon and Rash’s experience as actors and comedians.

• Bio
• Latest Posts

Mel Valentin

Staff Film Critic

Mel Valentin hails from the great state of New Jersey. After attending NYU undergrad (politics and economics double major, religious studies minor) and grad school (law), he made the move, physically, mentally, and spiritually to California, specifically San Francisco. Mel's written more than 1,400 film-related reviews and articles. He's a member of the San Francisco Film Critics Circle.

Latest posts by Mel Valentin (see all)

• Blu Review: The Host (2013) - July 7, 2013
• Interview: Nat Faxon and Jim Rash on The Way, Way Back - July 5, 2013
• Review: The Way, Way Back (2013) - July 4, 2013