Being a teenager is hard, and for 14-year old Duncan (Liam James), it’s made even worse by his mom’s (Toni Collette) new boyfriend, Trent (Steve Carell), who, in trying to assert himself as part of the family, has ostracized Duncan and shamed him into a shell that he may never come out of. Luckily, Trent is taking them all, including his own teenage daughter, Stephanie (Zoe Levin) to a beach house for the summer.
This is the set up for The Way, Way Back, the new film from Academy-award winning writers Jim Rash and Nat Faxon (The Descendants), who also co-direct. The Way, Way Back is a coming-of-age film that tells a human story in such a way that the audience is invited along with Duncan in his summer adventure, and we get to experience his highest highs, and unfortunately also his lowest lows.
Upon arriving at the beach house, we meet the neighbors; Betty, the mother, played by Allison Janney, and her daughter Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb). Betty treats the summer at the beach house like “spring break for adults” and is in the bottom of an empty cocktail glass for most of the film. Susanna, while not as introverted as Duncan, has issues of her own, and of course the two become friends.
Other adults are added to the mix in Trent’s old friends Kip (Rob Corddry) and his wife Joan (Amanda Peet), but Duncan pulls away, finding solace at a waterpark in town. There he meets Owen (Sam Rockwell) who takes the boy under his wing and helps him to come out of his shell. Rash and Faxon both play employees at the waterpark, and Maya Rudolph takes a turn as Caitlin, Owen’s on again/off again girlfriend.
The cast here is pure “Class-A” talent on every level and there is not a weak leak in the bunch. James’ Duncan is spot on perfect as an introvert who eventually learns to have fun. His physical performance even stands out, with slooped shoulders and a bored gait in the early part of the film turning to confidence and joviality by the latter half. Janney sells Betty very well, and Carell hits a homerun as the jerk Trent.
Early in the film, Trent asks Duncan to rate himself on a scale of one to ten, and when Duncan says he’s a six, Trent begs to differ and assigns him the number three instead. This is but one example of Carell’s Trent, a man who thinks he’s trying to do good by the young boy, but in actuality is really a womanizing piece of garbage that has no business is a relationship at all, not to mention as a male father figure.
Toni Collette does wonders with Pam, Duncan’s mother. She is a woman in her 40s who is afraid to be alone, and is sick of working so much to try and hide that that she latches onto a man that definitely isn’t right for her, or her son. It’s heartbreaking to watch her go through a rollercoaster of denial in regards to Duncan and Trent, even when the facts are staring her right in the face.
The real star is Sam Rockwell, who refuses to take life seriously, and manages a waterpark for a living. It’s hinted that he’s not happy with his life, but he hides it well. When Duncan decides that he wants to have Owen’s life, Owen is quick to set him straight. Rockwell is amazing as he toes the line between a goofy, fun-loving “big brother-type,” and the wise, worldly father figure that Duncan so desperately needs. Rockwell has put in some great performances in his career, and this ranks in the highest of them all.
The Way, Way Back is one of those timeless films that resonates with audiences from every generation. In fact, other than two mentions of a cell phone, this could be a period piece film from anywhere in the last 40 years. Rash (who reportedly used his own experiences growing up as the basis of the film) and Faxon wrote a script that is incredible in almost every way and in so doing, have created the perfect summer movie with heart and soul, humor and drama, and Sam Rockwell turning in the performance of his life.
In a summer filled with superheroes, big robots, raunchy comedies and a few dramas, it’s a little human film about a sleepy summer town and the waterpark it holds that is easily the best film of the Summer season. I strongly recommend The Way, Way Back to everyone, and I hope that the Academy remembers it come awards time.
The Way, Way Back is PG-13 and opened in theaters everywhere on July 26, 2013.
