Among all the big summer movies, there’s been little talk of “Away We Go”, a little film with John Krasinski (from the US “The Office”) and Maya Rudolph (of Saturday Night Live fame). I saw a preview screening of it a couple of weeks ago and absolutely loved it. The theatre was pretty full for such a film (although, it was a free invite) and I haven’t been to a film that had the audience laughing so much so often. The story was involving and the characters and situations were quirky and wacky and simply entertaining to watch. This is one movie that I have on my BD must-buy list when it hits; it reminds me of “Little Miss Sunshine” in its style, and that’s a good thing.
Anyone else had a chance to see it?
I caught it this past weekend and thought it was pretty good, but a little emo for my taste maybe. I think maybe I’m a little too old and settled to relate fully to the characters, but I enjoyed it overall. Krasinkski and Rudolph were both very good (boy, they really toned her down for this one). The scene in the “dance karaoke” bar was really haunting and sad.
Sentiment that I heard ranges from “very bad” to “atrocious.”
Think I will avoid this, despite the involvement of Eggers. A comparison to Little Miss Sunshine solidifies this.
The friend (female) I went with thought it was “okay” because the humour wasn’t her style, so I can see how reviews would be mixed, at best. It’s getting decent ratings at IMDB. Ebert gives it 3.5 stars but it seems to be favored by some critics and disliked by others. RT probably shows it best, having critics practically split down the middle while the community itself is wildly in favour.
It wasn’t remotely “very bad” or “atrocious.”
I actually thought it was one of the better movies I’ve seen this year. Perfect mix of a cynical, realistic look at love and parenting, addressed a lot of differing views on families and parenting, and very funny. I thought both lead actors did a great job.
Of course the people they went to see were over the top one way or another, but the little touches made this movie great. It’s absolutely a date movie, and a good one.
tiny spoilers
The slippers he puts on? The way he talks in the phone to his clients? Allison Janney’s whole character was disturbing and hilarious to watch. I also loved the scene where he’s trying to comfort her on the train. I’ve been there myself, in fact I think all guys have … trying to say the perfect thing to make your partner feel better about her body image, and fucking it all up.
I watched this last night and found myself nearly in tears toward the end, probably because of my recurring problems with my parents. There were a lot of beautiful touches in every character, and a lot of the people the two visit were hilarious.
However, the amount of cheap sentiment was overwhelming at the beginning. I was really worried I was about to hate my lady-pal for making me go, but then Jim Gaffigan showed up and things got better.
There were some hilarious parts that stood out.
“How black is this baby gonna be?” The breast feeding. The stroller. The adopted kids ending the movie before the Nazis.
And then SPOILER the story about the orange tree was really touching, in context.
Still, I can’t help but feel that Sam Mendes is a shitty director after yet another less-than-its-potential movie. I’ve been at least slightly disappointed in all of his movies.
Coming to BD already. Quick, but very nice.
