The Way Way Back

The Way Way Back was a little independent movie which I probably never would have known about - or bothered to check out - if it hadn't been a pre-movie trailer on a DVD which I had bought. When I saw the trailer for it, the movie had already been out for a year, but I had never heard of it. From watching the trailer, the movie looked really interesting and funny; it also had some fairly well known actors for a small production movie - actors such as Steve Carell, Rob Cordry, Maya Rudolph, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, Amanda Peet, and Sam Rockwell.

The movie focuses around Duncan (played by Liam James), an introverted 14-year-old who's on Summer Vacation with his mom Pam (Collette), her new dick-wad of a boyfriend Trent (Carell), and his bitchy daughter Steph (Zoe Levin). The movie starts out with Trent driving the 4 of them to his summer cottage. While Pam and Steph are sleeping, Trent tries to start a conversation (half-heartedly) with Duncan; he asks Duncan to rate himself on a scale of 1-10, and when Duncan says that he'd rate himself 6, Trent retorts with "I think you're a 3!" This gives you an idea of how big of a dick Trent is, and adds to the disdain that Duncan has for him.

Upon arriving at the cottage, the family is greeted by Trent's summer neighbour, Betty (played by Janney), and her children Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb) and Peter (River Alexander) - who has a lazy eye that Betty constantly makes fun of, and forces him to cover with an eye patch. Although Susanna tries to initiate conversations with Duncan, his shyness prevents him from saying anything more than a few words to her each time they talk.

Duncan - being introverted, but not wanting to stay around the house because of Trent - decides to take a bike ride around the town, where he discovers Water Wizz, the local town water park. Duncan sneaks in through the employee entrance where he continues to stay to himself and just sits at a picnic table. He is approached by one of the employees, Owen (Rockwell), who tries to kid around with Duncan, but Duncan takes everything Owen says literally and seriously. Owen decides to take Duncan under his wing and show him around the water park, introducing him to the other staff members and eventually getting a job at the park.

Duncan doesn't tell anybody that he's working at the water park,, as it's the only place he's truly happy and finally opening up. However, curious as to where Duncan is sneaking off to everyday, Susanna eventually decides to follow him to the water park one day. Susanna approaches Duncan and starts talking to him while he's working; Owen, and one of the other employees (Roddy), see this and go out of their way to both embarrass Duncan AND help him get the girl.

As the summer progresses, Duncan discovers that Trent is having an affair with one of the other neighbours, Joan (Peet). Fed up with Trent's shit, and no longer wanting to keep things to himself, Duncan lashes out at Trent at a Fourth Of July barbeque party. This leads to Duncan running off, and Susanna following after him to try to comfort him. Duncan eventually sneaks off to the water park's employee Fourth Of July party with Peter. The two of them stay at the party all night, letting loose and having a good time.

I don't want to ruin the rest of the movie, but this has definitely become one of my new favourite movies. I HIGHLY recommend this movie, as it has mostly laughs, but also has some great dramatic scenes. I never thought I could hate Steve Carell in ANY role, until I saw him in this film; that, I believe, speaks to how truly good of an actor he actually is. I would rate this movie a 4.5/5 and I would certainly list it as a movie you should purchase and add to your collection.

The Way Way Back is available on Blu-Ray and DVD on Amazon.



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