Thirty-somethings on the road again in 'Away We Go'
Director Sam Mendes’ quickie follow-up to last year’s must-see "Revolutionary Road" is both something of a road movie and something of a coming-of-age drama.
Mendes’ film also features plenty of comedy sandwiched between its episodic scenes of two 30-somethings searching for the proper place to raise their soon-to-be-born daughter.
John Krasinski ("The Office") is Burt, the bearded clueless happy-go-lucky father-to-be. Maya Rudolph is Verona, the six-months pregnant mother-to-be. When Verona and Burt go off to visit his New Age parents ( Jeff Daniels and Catherine O’Hara) they are confronted with some unexpected news; the couple will soon leave the country for two years to live in Belgium (something they have been planning for 15 years). This leaves Burt and Verona, who were expecting family support, high and dry.
Since both of them have jobs they can phone in from anywhere, the couple decides to visit places around the country where various friends, family and co-workers live.
John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph star as parents-to-be in "Away We Go."
First up is Verona’s former boss (Allison Janny) in Arizona. She turns out to be a foul-mouthed mother of two lumpy kids who are the hapless target of many of her insults. This, of course, turns Burt and Verona off, and it almost turned me off to the movie, as well.
Next up is Verona’s pretty sister (Carmen Ejogo), also living in Arizona. She turns out to be OK, and the sisters talk about their dead parents. This part of the movie is the most observant and the least funny, but it is kind of pointless, really. I mean, why don’t they pick her and this place, and move to Arizona? Probably because it’s too early for the film to end.
Next they meet up with a friend in Madison, Wis., Lily (Maggie Gyllenhaal). This episode is more satirical, and Gyllenhaal as usual is very good. It all ends with a very funny argument involving a baby carriage, so the couple are off again.
A few more cities and episodes of friends and family follow; you get the idea -- 30-somethings on the road, looking to grow up, maybe for their child’s sake.
It’s all just a little contrived, a little off-putting, but the two leads – Krasinski and Rudolph – are fresh-faced and natural, with the kind of rapport that two long-time lovers would share.
At times, Mendes’ direction seems forced and clipped, but the cinematography is gorgeous as the camera moves from one city to the next, following the leads on their Pilgrim’s Progress.
The humor of "Away We Go" is strange, not at all like the scatological kind used in so many popular films today; it’s more like the wit of Alexander Pane’s "Sideways," purely American and observational.
Sometimes this kind of humor clicks, but many other times it fails. Still, there is a heart beating beneath this generational-based comedy, and for that reason, I urge you to see it.