The Way, Way Back tells the story of 14-year-old Duncan (Liam James), who is stuck on a “family” vacation with his mom Pam (Toni Collette), her jerk of a boyfriend Trent (Steve Carell), and his snot daughter (Zoe Levin) at Trent’s beach house. Duncan escapes from the forced “family fun” and runs off to a water park each day where he befriends an ever-joking father figure he can actually connect to Owen (Sam Rockwell). Through his funny, stealthy friendship with Owen, Duncan slowly opens up and begins to finally find his place in the world all during a summer he will never forget.
The film is co-written and directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, who won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay along with director Alexander Payne for 2011 The Descendants. Rash most known for portraying Dean Pelton on NBC comedy Community and for up-staging Angeline Jolie with his leg joke at the Oscars. Faxon and he together wrote a wonderful coming of age dramedy that works on many different levels. With a wonderful cast of colorful characters that are funny and tragic that many can relate too.
Liam James played Duncan our lost teenager and main character. He plays the confused, 14 year old with such talent it’s hard not feel his emotions as he tries to deal with his mom’s ass of a boyfriend, Trent played by Steve Carrell. Carrell, mostly know for playing the good guy or funny roles. Here he has a chance to play something different. This is a complete turn around from and what we have come to expect. He plays such a terrible human being in this that you find yourself getting angry along with Duncan. The things he says to the poor boy should never be said to child, let alone one that’s not even yours. Both are great, credit to both actors for portraying such believable character in this situation.
When Duncan flees from the house each day he finds himself at the Water Wizz Park. There he meets Owen, Sam Rockwell. Owen is laugh out loud funny, good hearted, lazy, but all around good guy who becomes a father figure for Duncan when he needs one. Rockwell is awesome in this role. He is funny, charming and just a good dude. Joining Rockwell as the Water Wizz employees: Jim Rash, Maya Rudolph and Nat Faxon all are equally funny and great. Allot of time and energy was put into each and every character to make them believable. Each has their own small arc and work well together as an ensemble.
As Duncan is spending his days hiding from his “family” his mom is dealing with her own drama. Toni Collette plays Pam: Divorced, single mom doing what she can. But she is failing miserably. She seems to convince herself that Treat is a good guy and he’s is the best thing for her, even though she knows he’s not. She falls into that tragic situation of “doing what she has to do”. Even being confronted with all her issues she still doesn’t want to face them, leaving her son to be more of a parent than she is in some aspects. Collette is an amazing actress and she does her part well. Even with all Pam’s faults you still can see in her eyes she trying to do her best, but doesn’t quite know how. Soon realizing that her and Duncan need to get there together on their own with out Trent, who is just bad news.
There’s allot to like in this movie. If you’ve ever been that kid who was alone allot or just felt lost and when you finally found a place you felt you belonged in and never wanted to leave. That’s what this movie is about. Finding your own path and making it your own. This is a beautiful story about someone who is so uncomfortable in his own skin, that meeting someone, learning from Owen and instilling some confidence in him. It’s the kinds of positivity that rubs off and makes you feel good.
Duncan has one of those typical movie summers where he learns about life, sees people who they really are, has his first kiss and starts to grow up. Yes, we’ve seen several movies like this, but this is one of the better ones. The Way, Way Back is great. It’s funny, sad, crazy, heartbreaking and wonderful.