Away We Go
An endearing character study, Away We Go is basically a road trip movie through, sadly, a few obvious stops before its semi-ambiguous conclusion. I say semi-ambiguous because of course I know what occurred, but I couldn’t really tell, for lack of a better descriptor, what the lesson was. John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph are an untethered and compassless couple, about to move into Responsible Grownup territory, ready or not. As their support networks dissolve, so do their roots and any semblance of pretending now is forever. After a delicious scene with Krasinski’s character’s parents (Catherine O’Hara and Jeff Daniels, truly inspired casting), our heroes take off on an adventure to find themselves.
They make a number of stops, not all planned, and encounter a fantastic cast of hugely drawn characters – Allison Janney, Jim Gaffigan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Melanie Lynskey were the most notable. I loved a scene in a strip joint which I can only characterize as both painful and awkward – but not in the way you would imagine. But it was the first time that I felt that the script wasn’t just enjoying its clever observations of wackadoodle people. Reality bores in more closely after this, and their last stop drives home (or, I hope it did) the seriousness of their commitment to each other. The whole flavor of the movie seems to be trying to reproduce other small, earnest films, but I always got the feeling that it was an imitation flavoring here, though I can scarce define why. A scene that should have been a turning point ended up kind of being a “what can we write that is clever here,” and it left me a little wanting more.
Some character attributes were funny and charming (Krasinski always, always has his glasses on, even when…(well, it’s right at the beginning). Some seemed to exist only for the sake of this carefully constructed narrative. I say constructed because so little really felt real, or organic. The human interactions were real, the acting was uniformly great, it just felt like a fable, with everything occurring so as to heighten the tension for the next scene. By the denouement, I wasn’t sure how Rudolph’s character was really feeling, and I wish I had.
Director Sam Mendes uses his usual Oscar bait production team, but like Jonathan Demme’s Rachel Getting Married, eschews his usual polished style for a slightly awkward indie feel. He paints with broad strokes (Revolutionary Road, Jarhead, Road to Perdition, American Beauty) and this feels a little like he’s trying too hard. It seems odd to complain about the unspecified sense of artificiality when so many other elements were so enjoyable, but what can I say? It’s a subjective medium. My friend has had the soundtrack on continuous loops for like, a month; it reminded me very much of Garden State’s music, but further in the background. You should see it, but you don’t need to pay full price for it.
MPAA Rating R-language, sexual content
Release date 6/26/09
Time in minutes 98
Director Sam Mendes
Studio Focus Features
