A Mostly Positive Direction for "Away We Go"

(Note: This is Jezebel's boyfriend giving this guest review. Since Jez lives in a town with a really crappy movie selection, I offered to give reviews of films that are playing in my neck of the woods.)

Usually, when walking around the mall or something with my family, my parents will see a little kid being incredibly obnoxious while the parent is entirely oblivious, and we all feel that we need to comment on this. After experiencing this quite a bit, we've started to use the phrase “We're the perfect parents of other people's kids."

But first of all, I must say that the script, written by master satirist Dave Eggers (If you don't know who he is, he's the editor of the great satire magazine, McSweeney's) and his wife Vendela Vida, is fantastic. They provided some very fun and interesting characters for all the actors involved to live in, and introduced some twists into the genre about pregnancy and road trips. For instance, Burt and Verona find out they're pregnant during oral sex. Without getting too graphic, Burt determines Verona is either starting menopause or is pregnant. Mind you, that's just the first scene. The conclusion of the movie is a conversation in the middle of the night, while both of them are laying down on a trampoline.

The character work also shines bright in this film. John Krasinski is no stranger to playing the understanding nice guy, and he uses that to full effect as Burt. He practically becomes the emotional center of the entire film. While on this large journey, he's also charged with the task of talking Verona out of the emotional breakdowns that come with pregnancy. Being incredibly sweet and a little bit quirky at times, it's really rather easy to see why Verona had fallen in love with him. However, perhaps because of the script, Verona wasn't as strong of a character as I thought she should have been. While there are little bits that show through, she just seems incredibly introverted and aloof for most of the film, which is made even more apparent during one-on-one scenes with Burt. While it looked like she was the one in charge in the beginning, by about halfway into the movie it's pretty much all about Burt.

Part of the fun of road trip movies is the large cast of supporting characters. Eggers and Vida wrote some great eccentric characters in each of the cities that Burt and Verona visit, and for me they really stole the show. Perhaps the funniest supporting role belongs to Allison Janney, who plays the loud and abrasive Lily, Verona's former boss. She prefers a more hands-off approach to parenting, which usually means her kids are dragged along while she acts like they're not even there. Maggie Gyllenhaal also stole the show in her brief role as LN, the ultra-progressive liberal hippie parent who doesn't believe in strollers and shares a bed with her husband and kids, even while they're having sex.

However, my major problem with the film happened within the last half hour. As soon as the couple arrived in Montreal, the entire film did a sudden, sharp change in mood. While the events in Phoenix, Tuscon, and Milwaukee were hilarious, the film suddenly takes a sharp turn into the realm of drama. After an hour and a half of seeing bad parenting, we suddenly see families with good parents that have fallen into bad luck with divorces and miscarriages. While these scenes certainly would stand up well on their own, it felt like too jarring of a change. I kept on waiting for another opportunity to laugh, which didn't come until the conclusion. After a last moment reviewing everything that happened and exchanging vows to never do what they had witnessed other parents doing, they settle upon a place to live, which felt like a good, sweet ending.

BOTTOM LINE: “Away We Go” offers a lot of laughs, lovable characters, and has a script that will certainly catch your attention. Fans of independent cinema will certainly enjoy it. However, be prepared for the comedy to dry up considerably in the final act.

PROS:
1.Burt Farlander – John Krasinski's character was weird, goofy, sweet, and lovable. It's hard not to take a liking to the character.
2.Hilarious side characters – Allison Janney and Maggie Gyllenhaal really steal the show for their brief appearances.
3.The little kid telling Burt and Verona what he knows about babies – you have to see the movie to really get this one. It's the most hilarious line in the movie.
4.Great script by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida – Especially since it's their first. I really can't wait to see how Eggers does on his next project, the adaptation of “Where The Wild Things Are”

CONS:
1.Verona – There wasn't really much to the character. Most of the time, she was either crying or being incredibly introverted and aloof.
2.The Final Act – This is really a deal-breaker for the movie. Up to that point, it was absolutely hilarious. Once they hit Montreal, the film suddenly sobers up and becomes a drama. If the movie had balanced comedy and drama well enough, this wouldn't have been such a big issue.

RATING
Out of 5



WRITTEN BY: GrouchoMarx