REVIEW: The Way, Way Back - 7/10

2013 - Nat Faxon and Jim Rash

I hate movies whose trailers leave you on the border of “this might just be a little boring” and “this looks like it could be worth the watch.” It’s even worse when it’s in the middle of the summer that put the “bust” in blockbusters. If you’ve been reading, I haven’t had the best of luck lately and when that happens, the best thing to do is turn to independent film, in this case, the just-charming enough The Way, Way Back. Though not as immediately captivating as some of the more recent indie surprises such as Safety Not Guaranteed or The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, The Way, Way Back gave me exactly what I was hoping for: a lot of rich content and no crap that was thrown in to squeeze a few extra ticket sales. 

In a film filled with perhaps one too many stories, Way Back focuses around young Duncan, who has about as much depth as a soap dish except the soap dish probably has more friends. It’s not that he’s socially inept, he’s socially inexperienced, so much so that not only is everything awkward to him, giving him control of any amount of attention makes everyone else in the room uncomfortable. He’s angsty, bitter, and sits in the way, way back of the Let’s Make A Deal station wagon driven by his mom’s new boyfriend to the summer home he’ll be trapped at for the next few months.

Setting the tone for the relationship he has with his new “family” is the opening conversation where Trent (Steve Carell, aka mom’s new boyfriend) expresses his disgust with Duncan by saying that, all things considered, he rates as a 3 out of 10. I’ve had some experience with 3 out of 10’s lately, I’m fully aware of how low a blow it is. Not to say that Trent is trying to be a bad guy. In fact, he’s a bit right at this point, but it’s clear that his character dynamic is drastically from the 14-year old’s and it’s leaving a nasty taste in his mouth. 

The Way, Way Back plays a lot with drastically different character dynamics, but everyone who’s able to connect with each other does so because of other slight nuances. It’s clear that Duncan’s mom, who is also very shy and a bit isolated, feels a sense of openness she probably hasn’t had before when around the overly social Trent, even though you can tell it scares her to death. Duncan’s sorta “love interest” is able to connect with Duncan as the result of understanding what it’s like to be part of a broken home and finding a certain solace in being left alone. The next door neighbor Betty connects with everyone because, after being rejected for another man, apparently your best option at her age is to drink like crazy and force acceptance onto everyone. Obnoxious? Yes. Does it work? …Yes. However, the charm of the movie lies in the connection between Duncan and local water park owner Owen.

Owen, played expertly by Sam Rockwell, is, in my opinion, what turned this movie from “just a little boring” to “worth the watch.” Not foreign to playing the oblivious rebel who loves to be the center of attention, Rockwell ACES this role and serves as the perfect antithesis to everything holy, sacred, and therefore, fundamentally wrong with Duncan’s world. After honestly believing that he has to leave the water park because he is having so much fun it makes other guests uncomfortable (he was sitting alone at a picnic table), Duncan gains the interest of Owen, who clearly gets off on breaking someone out of their shell. Determined in his quest, Owen offers Duncan a job and we’re all treated to the hilarious sanctuary of the Water Wizz water park.

There, Duncan starts to gain a little more confidence in himself and for a little while almost looks like someone who won’t grow up having to give women his credit card number before talking to them. The moments are sweet and fun and I smiled watching the shy Duncan nervously react to having to talk to people without making them feel like it was an inconvenience. Everyone connects with each other in a way that almost looks like it should be a sitcom and Duncan’s home life story is saved for “the one episode where something serious happens.”

Though throughout all of this, something felt a bit unnatural. Perhaps the tone inside and outside of Water Wizz was so drastically different that I expected a much more satisfying moment when the two finally clashed. This didn’t feel like “the summer where everything changed,” but instead “the summer that didn’t COMPLETELY suck.” I wasn’t convinced that anybody really learned anything, but instead learned that they COULD learn something. As I mentioned earlier, perhaps there were just too many stories happening at once. Those little revelations where Duncan was a normal 14 year old kid were too few and far between, quickly diverting back to the rapidly crumbling home situation as mom and “dad” begin to realize perhaps they aren’t so good for each other after all. The “big moment” where Duncan has to be the hero of the situation and be the new man that the summer turned him into was a bit underplayed and anti-climactic then quickly tossed aside with something straight out of a children’s movie.

The Way, Way Back wasn’t really overwhelming and not really underwhelming…but since “whelming” doesn’t actually mean the area between those two, once again I find myself stuck on the border. Amazing that a movie like this is the brain child of Nat Faxon, known for his work on silly Fox sitcoms and moron college comedies, and Jim Rash aka the dean from Community. This was an enjoyable watch, but I didn’t walk away feeling like that was nearly as good as it could have been. In BackLOG speak, that means 7 dustbusters out of 10.