“I think we might be fuckups,” Verona (Maya Rudolph) admits
to Burt (John Krasinski). At 34 and 33, Verona and Burt are unsure of
where to go or what to do—and matters aren’t helped by the fact
that Verona’s pregnant, or that Burt’s parents (Jeff Daniels and
Catherine O’Hara) have decided to move away. So Verona and Burt decide
to find a new place to start their family: Hoping that somewhere will
feel like home, they travel from Arizona to Wisconsin to Montreal to
Miami, reconnecting with family members, college friends, and employers
to try and figure out where (and how) to grow up.
There are a bunch of really excellent things about Away We
Go. Like the script, co-written by Dave Eggers, the grand overlord
of the McSweeney’s empire, and his novelist wife, Vendela Vida, who
also co-edits The Believer magazine. Together, Eggers and Vida
have crafted an earnest and straightforward comedy/drama about two
earnest and straightforward people.
Then there’s the cast, which—aside from a goofy appearance by
Maggie Gyllenhaal—is excellent. Krasinski and Rudolph’s comic
skills, honed on The Office and Saturday Night Live,
serve them exceedingly well in Eggers and Vida’s often funny, sometimes
dramatic narrative: Verona and Burt are likeable, even loveable, and
they’re backed up by a great ensemble of actors, including Allison
Janney, Jim Gaffigan, Chris Messina, and Melanie Lynskey.
And there’s Ellen Kuras’ cinematography, and the film’s willingness
to ramble and roam when it needs to, and the admirable sincerity of it: Away We Go has so much heart—so much empathetic
goodwill for its characters—that it strains at the seams.
Which is where the not-so-excellent things kick in. American
Beauty and Jarhead director Sam Mendes, fresh from
the
suburban self-loathing of Revolutionary Road, feels a bit too
excited to be making a film that won’t make his audience want to slash
their wrists. With their script, Eggers and Vida carefully balance sly
humor and candid emotion, and Krasinski and Rudolph are similarly adept
and intuitive—but Mendes can’t quite stick the landing. About 500
times during the film, the emo strumming of singer/songwriter Alexi
Murdoch dramatically swells on the soundtrack, making Away We Go briefly feel like (A) an episode of The O.C., and (B) way too
precious. It’s as if, unsure of what tone he wanted, Mendes just gave
up and had an “emo montage with indie folk song” button installed in
Away We Go‘s editing bay.
But honestly, that’s a minor blemish: For the most part, Away We
Go is engaging and honest and funny and sweet, and a welcome change
of pace from summertime’s usual bombardment of blockbuster explosions
and broad slapstick. Verona and Burt might very well be fuckups, and
their meandering trip might not be the ideal way to find a
home—but it’s a journey well worth tagging along for, even if
you’ll wish they’d have thought to bring along a few different CDs for
the drive.
