"Away We Go" Review by Spaldy

Directed by: Sam Mendes

Written by: Dave Eggers & Vendela Vida

Starring: Maya Rudolph, John Krasinski, Catherine O'Hara, Jeff Daniels, Allison Janney, Jim Gaffigan, Carmen Ejogo, Maggie Gyllenhaal

There are times when the premise of a film seems hopelessly set up. For instance, the plot of this story is that a thirty-something couple, Burt and Verona, have moved to a foreign city to be closer to Burt’s parents when Verona becomes pregnant. However, in Verona’s sixth month, they learn that Burt’s parents have decided to move to Belgium the month before she is due to give birth. With no anchor to their new home, the couple decides to find another place to live.

The idea that a pregnant woman would want to uproot her life and pick a new city at random seems unlikely. It sounds like the kind of thing you only see in a movie. I was only a couple years younger than Burt or Verona when I uprooted my life and moved to a random city where I knew no one and had no ties to anything. Sure I wasn’t pregnant when I did it, but I also didn’t make that kind of move with my college sweetheart supporting me emotionally. In some ways I understand how the couple could get to that point, but in other ways, I still feel unsure of the premise.

Further counting against the film is the fact that there were several conversations that came across like a play. Some of the dialogue felt forced and monologuish. That is not so say that the script did not work. There were moments of eloquence and poignancy that had as much to do with the screenwriters work as the strong performances of Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski. The problem was that there were too many moments of dialogue in the film that didn’t work, and that really took away from the film.

Maya Rudolph was lovely a Verona. At first Verona does not seem like she truly loves Burt, but there is a moment when Verona looks at Burt while visiting her sister, and there is a wonderful glow of contentment in Verona’s face. Maya’s performance is understated, subtle, and moving. Her partner in crime is John Krasinski as Burt. John’s performance is very close to Jim from “The Office,” but with more facial hair and less quips. Still, John stretches a little outside of his usual artistic tricks. Burt is a sweet soul full of positivity and joy. Though things may not always go well for Burt and Verona, their clear bonds of friendship and love seem to radiate off the screen.

The supporting cast has a solid group of familiar faces. The best is Jim Gaffigan who garnered the most laughs out of me despite only being on the screen for about six minutes. Also appearing is Maggie Gyllenhaal as a holier than thou hippy and Allison Janney as an old friend who likes to loudly overshare things. On the whole, I could not find a single problem with the cast. Outside of the writing, if there was any problem with the film it was the direction.

Sam Mendes is an accomplished and wonderful director. However, his style does tend to lend itself to stiff, play-like deliveries at times. As some of the conversations came across more like a monologue than a regular conversation, his style of direction made some of those scenes more obvious to the ear. On the other hand, Mendes really knows how to pull a powerful and quiet performance out of his actors.

Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. Burt and Verona are wonderfully sweet people, and I really enjoyed seeing the portrayal of a more realistic couple on the screen. This couple doesn’t really fight or argue because they understand one another, support one another, and most importantly, they know the right moment to joke with one another. I feel like we don’t see this kind of relationship in films too often, and I rather enjoyed spending a couple hours with them. Other than my issues with some of the dialogue and direction, my only other nitpick was that some of the plot points seemed a little too obvious. Still, for all the good in this film, its lesser moments can be overlooked.

I definitely recommend viewing this on DVD or cable at the least, but if you feel like a night out at the movies, this film is nice bit of light fair. And even if some of the dialogue hurts your ears like it did mine, the costumes, soundtrack, and cast performances should still make it worth your while.