Away We Go Review

Published by Jeff Leins on: July 5th, 2009

Sam Mendes has developed a career out of the hidden struggles of suburban life, winning an Oscar for American Beauty and capturing a real midlife crisis in Revolutionary Road.  In Away We Go, Mendes’ dramatic family themes have been mellowed for a pleasantly unconventional comedy about building a life together.

Going for laughs is a change of pace for the accomplished auteur, but his stylistic touches are a part of what makes his brand of storytelling special.  The film’s beautiful, inviting mise en scene is as warm as its protagonists and each shot is framed with a calm symmetry as it settles down amidst the lived-in world of Burt and Verona.

A bearded John Krasinski (”The Office”) and a sweet Maya Rudolph (”Saturday Night Live”) depict an unmarried, comfortable couple founded on years of affection.  Both are naturally funny and much of the comedy comes from their quirky chemistry, but they transition seamlessly to tender moments of genuine sentiment.  Rudolph is especially exceptional in one of the top performances of the year.

He is a docile, goofy insurance salesman and she does medical illustrations while six months pregnant with their first child.  But, as Verona points out, they’re “34 and don’t even have this basic stuff worked out, like where to live.”  When his odd, selfish parents (Jeff Daniels and Catherine O’Hara) break the news that they’re leaving for Belgium before the baby is due, their departure removes the only reason to stay in Colorado.  The film is about their cross-country migration to find a new nest and the various permutations of family they witness along the way.

Set to the acoustic rhythm of songwriter Alexi Murdoch and punctuated by title cards that read “Away to [the next city],” the couple visits old friends in various destinations.  A former co-worker (a kooky Allison Janney) and her husband (a misused Jim Gaffigan) quickly rule out Phoenix as an option, and the new-age hippie lifestyle of LN (Maggie Gyllenhaal) has them running barefoot from Madison, Wisconsin.  Trips to Montreal and Miami turn out to be weighty, emotional layovers.  Each is an example of people you wouldn’t want to be neighbors with, but they also serve as introspective lessons on what kind of parents Burt and Verona want to be.

With the proliferation of telecommuting and Internet-only positions, the concept of being entirely rootless lends itself to this free-spirited story.  They can settle down anywhere and it will be home, as long as they’re together.  A romantic trampoline exchange makes the relationship their own, rejecting society’s collective, contradictory wisdom or traditional marital arrangements for a mutual agreement to discover life as a family.

It’s refreshingly different than the R-rated raunchers and the cookie cutter romantic “comedies” that dominate the mainstream.  Away We Go isn’t for everyone, but it’s funny while not being uproarious and charming without being over-sentimental.  See it with someone you love.

4 out of 5.