THE WAY, WAY BACK

Stars: Steve Carell, Sam Rockwell, Liam James, Toni Collette, Maya Rudolph, Amanda Peet, AnnaSophia Robb, Rob Corddry, Alison Janney, Jim Rash, Nat Faxon, River Alexander, Robert Capron and Zoe Levin.
Writers/Directors: Nat Faxon and Jim Rash.

Rating: 3.5/5

When the summer-time feel-good dramedy, The Way Way Back turned up on the Sydney Film Festival schedule, there was a murmur from Harbour City cinephiles that a) suggested this sort of cute US teen tale can’t be worthy of a prime slot, and b) if it is, 2013 may be a lean year at the SFF.

Not for the first time, Harbour City cinephiles were wrong. The SFF 2013 programme was (mostly) up to standard; and, the writing/directing team of Nat Faxon and Jim Rash (hot off their Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar win for The Descendants) have delivered an entirely Festival-worthy offering. This charming coming-of-age effort features a low-key, thoroughly winning lead character in Liam James’ 14 year-old misfit Duncan and a bottomless pit of quality co-stars basking in the glory of a smart, warm, funny script.

Misunderstood sad-sack Duncan is accompanying his mom, Pam (Toni Collette) and her new boyfriend, the jerk Trent (an against-type Steve Carell) on a summer season vacation trip to Trent’s holiday home. We learn early on Trent has history there; his neighbour, the usually liquored-up Betty (a wonderful Allison Janney) is in the party’s face as soon as they arrive, her daughter, Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb) checking out the new arrivals from the porch.

Seeking distance from his twisted home life, Duncan stumbles into a part-time job at the local Water Whizz theme-park, under the tutelage of ultra-cool substitute dad-figure Owen (Sam Rockwell, heir to Bill Murray’s droll but adorable everyman crown, in the role his fans have been waiting for him to play). While Trent and an increasingly disillusioned Pam get complicated with summer friends Joan (Amanda Peet) and Kip (Rob Corddry), Duncan finds new and better authority figures in Owen, park boss Caitlyn (Maya Rudolph), water-shute operator Roddy (Faxon) and surly confession stand long-timer Lewis (Rash).

Not quite the new Little Miss Sunshine the studio marketers would have you believe (that film’s Collette and Carell are very different here), The Way, Way Back most resembles the criminally underseen 2009 Jesse Eisenberg/Kristen Stewart film, Adventureland. Utilising the warmth of rose-coloured retro-vision, both films get away with 80’s-style sentimentality by balancing those elements with tart-mouth quips and real-world emotions.

There is an adorable ease with which the feel-good elements of Rash and Faxon’s story unfold. James makes for an atypical teen lead but that ultimately serves the story immeasurably; even as Act 3 kicks off, the script never hints as to how bittersweet things will become for our hero. It is a work of outward simplicity but resonates with a depth that anyone who was ever an awkward teen will identify with instantly.