Shy 14-year-old Duncan goes on summer vacation with his mother, her overbearing boyfriend, and her boyfriend's daughter. Having a rough time fitting in, Duncan finds an unexpected friend in Owen, manager of the Water Wizz water park.
Tender and understated drama from the writers of The Descendants.
Cute rites-of-passage comedy.
A film for every age, whether you’re an awkward kid, former awkward kid or awkward kid-adjacent. Funny, real and uplifting. A film that reaffirms your belief in the human spirit.
Though not quite as enjoyable as Adventureland, The Way, Way Back is likeable enough as a low-key, Sundance-flavoured charmer. The central character is arguably too wallflower-y for his own good, but Rockwell is absolutely ace.
The story manages to be both very familiar and somehow not quite believable, in part because the characters feel contrived (unlike, for example, the painfully real family in Little Miss Sunshine).
The Way, Way Back is pretty generic – it even shares dysfunctional family DNA with the Faxon/Rash/Alexander Payne script for The Descendants – yet it is likeable, and has some moments of truthfulness underneath the clichés.
The movie is generally more forgiving in spirit, and it will touch a chord in anyone who once felt marooned in a world that didn't seem to care – viz. anyone who has been through adolescence.
For all the longueurs, there are still enough moments of near brilliance to sustain you through the trip.
Writer/directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash know that Rockwell is the film’s secret weapon (he’s so charming and funny it’s impossible not to fall for the film), but they layer in enough well-observed home truths to ensure it never feels like it’s coasting on the charisma of its cast.
Not a subtle film, but honest, intelligent and very funny.
A coming-of-age tale by numbers that don’t all add up.
It might prove popular among teenagers still stuck in that not-a-child-but-not-an-adult gap, but adults will consign it to a vague mental scrapbook of mediocre films too bland to ever really remember.
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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