Country:
USA
Recognizable Faces:
John Krasinski
Maya Rudolph
Jeff Daniels
Jim Gaffigan
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Carmen Ejogo
Directed By:
Sam Mendes
Maybe I have just never been a fan of Sam Mendes' beautiful things. AMERICAN BEAUTY was fun and rather bold, but was vapid and oberblown at times (plastic bag scene, anyone?). ROAD TO PERDITION had a great story (written by Max Allan Collins himself), but everything about it was so goddamn neat. The actors were too neat for the jobs, the sets were too perfect, that sort of thing. As you can imagine, I've been finding all sorts of excuses not to watch AWAY WE GO for the last two years. That time came to an end in a social situation last Friday. After Josie, AT and me scrolled through Netflix, looking for something to watch for half an hour, we decided that a Sam Mendes movie wouldn't be so bad after all. Really, how bad could it really be if it's co-written by Dave Eggers, a writer I really like. We had a clue it was a movie that glorified indie lifestyle and hipster culture, but we had no clue it would be that bad.
Burt (Krasinski) and Verona (Rudolph) are a wild and carefree couple in their thirties, expecting their first child. They are really into this. They read books about "the birthing experience" and shift the focus of their lives around the upcoming child (but have no real solid job prospect or steady income). So after they learn Burt's parents are movie to Belgium for two years (thus missing the child's birth), what's more responsible than going on a soul searching road trip and try to find THE perfect place to raise their child, right? Starts there Burt and Verona's wild and carefree tour of North America, where the only thing they come across is blatant regional stereotypes in overdrive mode. I know it's supposed to be a comedy, but that's exactly where the movie shoots itself in the foot with a shotgun. It becomes a mess because it's not really funny and the movie never really decides what tone it wants to take. It turns into a mess quite fast.
Burt and Verona first meet a friend couple from Arizona, who are a toxic mix lack of decorum and self-depreciation. Their humor is more sad than anything else (they make fun of their kids, for chrissake. Calling her daughter a dyke) and our fun-loving couple doesn't pick up on that. Like most people around inherent drama, they just tiptoe to their next destination. Sam with their trip in Madison, Wisconsin where they meet this crazy hippie woman which I think was Burt's friend. Then they go to Montreal (which really was Stamford, Connecticut. Montreal doesn't look anything like that), etc. etc. They find reasons not to stay, then move to the next location. Whenever they decide to move spot, it has nothing to do with the place itself, but with strange and stereotype-ish people they meet there.
What turns AWAY WE GO into such a drag is that Burt and Verona takes themselves so damn seriously. They run away from everyone like they are being attacked by the earthly manifestations of human idiocy, turning any humor attempt to a bust. Plus, whenever they are alone with each other, the lines of dialogue they have are beyond bad. The shining stars of AWAY WE GO are the slapstick, stereotype locals, but Sam Mendes and Dave Eggers love Burt and Verona so much more than them, they are making them judgmental of everything and everybody. Really, it's a movie that has nothing to show for itself. It's not even pretty or specially well-shot in that Sam Mendes way of making everything beautiful. Too bad, because I think John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph are really talented actors, but they are embarrassing themselves here. The ending is a surprising fit (in a very ironic fashion), but I don't think it was meant to be. AWAY WE GO is a very long ninety-eight minutes about dissatisfied and rebellious young people. It has been done before and it has been done better.
SCORE: 31%