The Way Way Back: Blu-ray Review
The Movie:
Shy 14-year-old Duncan (Liam James) goes on summer vacation with his mother (Toni Collette), her overbearing boyfriend (Steve Carell), and her boyfriend’s daughter (Zoe Levin). Having a rough time fitting in, Duncan finds an unexpected friend in Owen (Sam Rockwell), manager of the Water Wizz water park.
Most of us have had those awkward periods in life (I know I did) where you feel like you didn’t belong, you didn’t feel entirely comfortable with yourself or you couldn’t seem to find the right words to say to a person of the opposite sex. It’s all a part of growing up and this movie embodies it all. From the first scene of the film you automatically feel bad for Duncan and absolutely HATE Trent. If a movie can pull a reaction like that from me within the first few minutes then I know that I’m experiencing something special. James is great and has this quality about him that makes him so likable and relatable. Carell does a fantastic job at being a complete and total jerk. He really made me just want to reach in the TV and smack him around. It takes a REAL actor to make someone feel something like that. Everyone is used to seeing Carell as the “funny man” so his role was a good change of pace for his career. Rockwell fit his role so well and was extremely funny. His sarcastic and joking nature is so perfect for his carefree character. Underneath all of the irresponsibility his character shows there is a man with a caring nature for all of the people around him, including Duncan. He was almost like a surrogate father or older big brother to him and really took him under his wing. Allison Janney was absolutely crazy and random which made for some really hilarious moments throughout the film. Her drunken antics will have you laughing out loud and will remind you that we all have one of those people in our family somewhere. The other thing that this film has is tons of heart with plenty of it coming from Collette’s character. She tries so hard to balance her happiness with her son’s but eventually she sees what’s important when she realizes that things aren’t exactly what they seem. This is such an excellent movie about finding yourself over the course of a summer and I challenge anyone to watch it and not find an aspect that they couldn’t relate to in some way. This is a must buy and will definitely be a recommendation of mine for years to come.
Special Features:
Behind the Scenes with the Hilarious Cast and Filmmakers – Hilarious would be an understatement when describing this cast. Even writers/directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash are characters in their own right and bring the hilarity when looking back on the making of the film.
Deleted Scenes – Even though there are only 3 minutes of deleted scenes I laughed the whole way through and especially hard during the last scene with Maya Rudolph.
Theatrical Behind the Scenes – More features on the making of the film including a look at the waterpark, the cast and the filmmakers.
