The Way, Way Back

This movie was written/directed by the creative team who won an Oscar for The Descendents, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, a summer film about a teen boy who is having trouble coping with his fractured family. It takes place at a small beach town where everyone comes to vacation in the summertime and although the time is not stated and the production values don’t specifically point to a decade, it is around late 1970s or early '80s  since I think as it is based on autobiographical elements from the writers.

The teen Duncan is played by Liam James. He is disgruntled (or worse) because he can’t stand his mother’s jerk of a boyfriend (Toni Colette, Steve Carell). The boyfriend, Trent, is the sort to try to get Duncan to “man up” although Trent’s efforts are more to assert his authority rather than caring about connecting with Duncan, and perhaps Trent is even a little jealous of Duncan taking away time from his mom, pat. Most of this negative behavior is done when they are out of earshot of Pat. As a result Duncan is closemouthed with Trent and almost surly, only he knows there is little he can do about this situation. This summer, they all drive to Trent’s summer cabin in a Massachusetts town, which includes Trent, Duncan, Pat, and Trent’s vain daughter from a previous marriage. Their cabin neighbor is the happy drunk Betty (Allison Janney), herself a divorcee with a mopey teen daughter Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb) and younger son Peter (River Alexander), both whom Duncan eventually befriends (although he is a loner at first). Betty and Trent are neighbors from past years, so you can see that this summer community have known each other a long time.

Duncan tries to avoid the expected socializing with Betty and another couple (Rob Corddry, Amanda Peet) so he escapes to Water Wizz, a local water park where there is a pool with a big slide, and where all the kids hang out at. There he is embraced by the employees, which include the laid back and sometimes irresponsible manager Owen (Sam Rockwell), his quasi girlfriend (Maya Rudolph) and other employees. At Water Wizz, Owen is all about the fun and kind of takes Duncan under his wing.


You can predict where this movie goes with its story threads. Duncan gets bolder and asserts himself with Trent, to the point of revealing Trent's faults openly to his mother in an effort to have her, too, assert herself. Duncan also is attracted to Susanna (and thankfully the film doesn't go the usual route with this relationship) and they also bond as both are from divorced families. Pat struggles with the truth about her life but since as I said this might be taking place in an earlier generation, she may just do what she thinks will hold the family together for financial stability. Even Owen matures a little at the same time as he identifies with Duncan’s situation.

While well-acted for the most part, especially since it is stacked by a bunch of reliable actors, the general plot is overall kind of average, although it is better portrayed than most films of these types. It has both a teen drama factor as well as a nostalgia factor. Carell, who I find sometimes can have some mean-spirited attributes in his characters, is portrayed as that type of person and even more so here than in other roles he has taken. Allison Janney has a fun time with her bold character but Rob Corddry, who is a noted comic actor, doesn’t have much to his role; he’s basically “someone’s husband” and Amanda Peet's character even is ultimately a plot contrivance herself. The younger actors such as Liam James and the two who played the neighbor kids had more developed characters and personality. The comic banter amongst the water park employees was also good (both Faxon and Rash also take small roles as employees at Water Wizz), showing a more heartfelt family structure than in Duncan’s own life.