What a great little movie with a great big cast.
THE WAY WAY BACK arrives from the writers of The Descendants, filled with a ton of laughs and strong dramatic moments that feel all too real.
14 year old Duncan (fantastic performance from Liam James) is heading out on summer vacation with his mom Pam (Toni Collette) and her new boyfriend Trent (Steve Carrell).
In the first two minutes of the film, Trent asks Duncan on a scale of 1 to 10 what he thinks he is. When Duncan says a six, Trent proceeds to tell him why he is a 3. The fact that Steve Carrell delivers this and every other one of his lines in the film without a hint of humor was a great surprise. Carrell is excellent, but he doesn't have one funny line playing a self-centered, selfish ass.
Duncan soon finds himself working a part time job at massive waterpark WATER WIZZ, run by child-man Owen. Owen refuses to grow up, has a one-liner for everything and is one of the funniest characters I've seen on screen in a long time. As played perfectly by Sam Rockwell, you and Duncan will soon realize there may be a bit more wisdom behind the one-liners than you might expect.
Allison Janney, Maya Rudolph, Amanda Peet and Rob Corddry round out a flawless cast.
One of the best written films of the year, it's one of those movies like "The World According to Garp" that you regret when it's over because you are enjoying yourself so much hanging out with these people.
Owen's final scenes with Duncan are really powerful and deliver without ever being predictable.
It's by turns hilarious, sad, dramatic and touching, but always REAL.
Look for the two screenwriters as the keeper of the water slide at the park and the eccentric equipment manager that rents out everything from inner tubes to poorly constructed swimming trunks.
When I was a kid and we had a station wagon, we always wanted to sit in the WAY, WAY BACK seat that faced the car behind you.
Thanks to an amazing cast and terrific writing, you should run and claw your way to THE WAY WAY BACK. It's one of my favorite films of 2013 and an A+.
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