The Way, Way Back Review

   This is a simple movie, one that rolls into theaters, does its bit , makes some laughs, then easily slides onto DVD.  "The Way, Way Back" is a coming of age story about a teenager struggling with his mom's divorce and possible remarriage. It's a story that's been done to death, and why not?  Divorce and/or remarriage is life altering for a child, and provides a way to add drama to an otherwise lighthearted movie. Divorce is also an idea that mass audiences can easily swallow, since it's something that happens all the time. It's not as heavy as other possible dramatic plots, like death, rape, a fatal disease/diagnosis, etc.
    In this movie, the idea of divorce is handled not quite deftly but not quite ignorantly, the whole film reeks of mildness. Don't expect any thought-provoking ideas put in place about this terrible event in the main characters life, just expect some laughs and a few character moments, ranging from solid to filler.
     There are definitely great parts to "The Way Way Back", however. Take the airtight writing of Owen, played by Sam Rockwell. Every time he's on screen, you know this cocky clown is going to provide fantastic laughs. Owen is the owner of Water Wizz Water Park. He hires Duncan, the main character, and teaches him about the ways of the water park, and of course, this is all through montage, as you do.
    The characters in the water park all coincide well. It feels like the writers wanted to make a movie that was solely about the situations that occur in this water park and how each of the characters react. We have the cocky one (Sam Rockwell), the tightly wound one that he loves (Maya Rudolph), the sidekick (Nat Faxon), and the punching bag (Jim Rash). Really, these 4 characters we meet are much more enjoyable to watch then everybody else. Every single joke they have works, there's never an awkwardly unfunny moment with them. The whole movie could have been made of the water park, and that could have avoided some of the bad spots that occur outside of the water park. Maybe it could have had the coming-of-age plot about divorce as more of a subplot, with Duncan being a minor character. The movie's strongholds were in the water park, and if the filmmakers realized that, "The Way Way Back" could have been miles better.
    But for every scene of gold that comes from the water park, there are a few outside of that location that work to mixed degrees. For instance, the character Anna Sophia Robb plays. She becomes a kind of, sort of girlfriend to Duncan, as they both share the experience of having to live through a parents divorce. This could have led to a developed romance that created a character arc for him. He could have realized that there are other people going through the same struggles as him, and gotten confidence that way, or she could have been a more wild, freely living girl to contrast his moody shyness. But nothing happens because of this relationship.  Every scene involving the two pretty much consists of her talking about her dad and him listening. Then he walks away, feeling the same as he felt before. Even the end of their relationship, and what is supposed to be the end of his character arc with her, he learns nothing from.
    The pacing isn't always fantastic.Very often, two very important, but tonally different scenes, happen back to back, and feel out of place next to each other. Take the big emotional breakthrough at the end of act two is followed by a small scene with another emotional complication, where Duncan tries to kiss Susanna, and she rejects. Then Duncan does what he should have done after the big emotional breakthrough; running to his safe haven, the water park. The kissing scene itself isn't well done by itself. The scene doesn't accomplish anything in the arc, as she turns him down. (Later, she's the one that kisses him, and he comes out of it the feeling the same as if she had never done it, further reinforcing the pointlessness of their romance.) Pacing problems also occur in a scene near the end. Duncan gets the random urge to try and pass Owen on a water slide (foreshadowed earlier) and succeeds.  This is immediately followed by another emotional breakthrough from the mom. It could have been done well, but the pass in the water slide feels randomly thrown in.
    I do think every performance was at least solid. I've already talked about Sam Rockwell, but there are others. Allison Janney was fantastic as the alcoholic, freely living neighbor Even though the amount of time spent on her character is pointless, she's still a hilarious character. Jim Rash (the co-writer and co-director) does great as the punching bag in the water park crew as well. These are characters who don't contribute to the plot or have their own subplot amongst themselves, they're just there for jokes. But despite that, it's good to see the actors care enough to put an effort in and succeed for the most part.
    There's a scene near the beginning where Duncan meets Owen for the first time in a restaurant/arcade. Owen's playing Pacman, and tells Duncan he's going for the all time record, but he's on the first level and only has one life left. Duncan tells Owen that there's a pattern he could follow. Soon after saying this, Owen leaves and lets Duncan play on his quarter, saying "Don't follow a pattern, make your own path". Duncan turns back and sees he's lost the game with "Game Over" blinking on the screen. It's a solid metaphor, one obvious enough to get while subtle enough to be intellectual. The reason I bring it up though, is that it represents the movie in the worst way possible. It comes down to the main problem, the movie could have set it's own path, been a quirky film about water park workers. And this film does spend a decent amount of time there. But the movie follows a pattern done before. It's a pattern they do well, with fantastic acting and some great jokes. But, you get the feeling that the filmmakers missed out on an opportunity, and only gave us a taste of what could have been.

                                                              3.5/5