![]() Pam sees this, but she doesn't want to know it, so poor Duncan slinks off to sulk, act awkward around the promising blonde next door (Annasophia Robb), and ride a girlie bike around town - in the course of which excursion, he happens on a decaying water park. No surprise, he's pretty good as Trent, whose idea of responsible stepfathering is to maneuver Duncan into a psychological corner, then ask him what he's doing there. But he has the watchful, furious eyes of an ax-murderer, or at least a soul-crusher, and directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (who co-wrote The Descendants with Alexander Payne) have deftly cast him in The Way, Way Back as the latter. (And by the way, will someone please give the talented Amanda Peet a role as something other than a man-eating minx?)Ĭarell's transition to serious actor has mostly had him playing lovable goofballs. Within minutes of their arrival Pam is drinking, dancing, doing a little furtive weed and trying not to notice that her betrothed comes on awfully pally with a comely neighbor. Toni Collette plays Duncan's divorced and dubiously responsible mom, whose new paramour (Steve Carell) may not be the best of surrogate-father figures for a sensitive teen. For a while.Īnd no wonder: His divorced, devoted but unevenly overprotective mother Pam (the always terrific Toni Collette) has dragged Duncan away from the father he adores to a seaside vacation with her new partner, Trent (Steve Carell). You get the sense that Duncan has been holding a lot of stuff in. Its big joke, edged with a hint of potential disaster, is a July 4 barbecue that plays out, in at least one unwilling participant's eyes, as "spring break for adults."įourteen-year-old Duncan, astutely underplayed by Canadian actor Liam James, carries his unhappiness in his rounded shoulders and shambling gait. Like others of its kind, this cheerfully profane dramedy shoehorns a coming-of-age parable into a domestic drama. Adults are welcome too, but they should know they're in for a drubbing. ![]() But the proposition will strike joy into the hearts of teenagers, who are the primary target audience for the brisk new movie The Way, Way Back. From where I sit, helicopter parents pose a more potent threat to child development than footloose adults. That may or may not be true in real life. So here's the latest cinematic scoop on the New American Family: The kids are all right - or would be if the grownups stopped acting like stoked toddlers and got with the program.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |