“Away We Go,” directed by Sam Mendes, is a heart-felt road movie that investigates what to do (or not) when raising a family and delineates the meaning of home. An expectant couple, Burt Farlander (John Krasinski) and Verona De Tessant (Maya Rudolph), travel the US in search of the perfect place to raise their family after Burt’s parents (Jeff Daniels and Catherine O’Hara) announce that they are moving to Antwerp for two years. Their trip takes them to various places across the country where they encounter some odd people. There’s Verona’s ex-boss (Allison Janney) in Phoenix, Verona’s sister (Carmen Ejogo) in Tucson, Burt’s new-age cousin (Maggie Gyllenhaal) in Madison, married friends from college (Chris Messina and Melanie Lynskey) in Montreal, and Burt’s brother (Paul Schneider), whose wife has just left him in Miami. In a few short weeks, Burt and Verona see the good, the bad and the ugly and understand more about themselves. Ultimately, their journey leads them home.
Mendes’ pairing of John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph is what makes this movie work. They exhibit a subtle, but genuine chemistry and we believe that they love each other. The supporting cast is mostly believable although we don’t get to see much of Jeff Daniels and Catherine O’Hara and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s character is just plain creepy. Mendes, whose dark ‘Revolutionary Road’ was so hard to watch, has created a delicate balance between drama and comedy, making “Away We Go” an enjoyable moving-going experience. 6/18/09
"Away We Go" is a curious little drama that, at the same time, captures our interest and our intellect. This funny little film asks and answers the questions "what is important in life" and "where do we fit into this society". After starting out thinking that they needed to join a support/family group somewhere the couple in this film learned that all they really needed was each other and some "roots" somewhere. They also started out thinking that they might be "losers" and discovered that they were pretty normal after all. This film may not appeal to the masses but I think it is worthwhile and will have a following. I give it a 3 1/2 bagger out of 5 possible.
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