ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Supelice Dreadfully Boring

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Sanjeev Waters A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

rooprect To me, an "indie" film is a movie with a budget under $10,000 and where the director's mom does all the catering. "Away We Go", with an internationally acclaimed director like Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Jarhead) and a budget of $17 million, doesn't exactly fit that description so you won't hear me calling it an "indie". What I will say is that it definitely departs from the standard Hollywood romcom formula which is a nice surprise.The standard Hollywood romcom formula goes something like: (1) boy meets girl, (2) they deny they're in love, (3) they admit they're in love, (4) they get into a fight and fall out of love, (5) they get back together in a big climactic weepy scene and live happily ever after. Well, "Away We Go" has absolutely none of the above. That itself should get your attention if you're looking for something different.So what's it about? It's about a man & woman in love who travel around the country looking for a place to call home. The drama & dynamics are not within their relationship, but instead they observe drama & dynamics (and quite often hysterics) from the couples they visit along the way. So essentially they are like us, the audience, impartial observers in a wacky story... except that the story happens all around them. It's a pretty novel approach to the romcom, more like a road movie than anything else, and yet it delves deeply into questions of love, marriage and relationships.In case you didn't know, Maya Rudolph's character is pregnant throughout the film and the themes focus heavily on children: how people raise them, how people FAIL at raising them, and how people try admirably in unlucky circumstances. But you don't have to be baby crazy to connect with this film. More than anything, it makes us analyze our own upbringing and how our parents' methods affected us.I sincerely hope none of you had it as bad as what we see in the movie. There's some pretty hilariously bad parenting going on here. And that's where the movie draws most of its comedy from. It's a very satirical film, light on punchlines but heavy on sarcasm. Most of the (bad) parents we see are caricatures of certain extremes: the negligent rich parents who are more interested in their home decorations than their children, the creepy midlife-crisis parents including the mother who is ready to have an affair with any man with a pulse, the hippy new age parents who share their bed (and evidently their nocturnal marital activities) with their children... yeah there's some hilariously creepy stuff here.But just when you start thinking this movie is a total absurdist comedy, it hits you with some very powerful, sobering moments. In particular, in the latter half there's a very sudden dark moment when we wake up and realize that relationships and parenting sometimes come with some heavy baggage. The scene begins with one of the mothers doing a pole dancing routine at a strip club amateur night (hilarious right?) but soon becomes one of the most darkly emotional moments in any romcom. That's when I made up my mind that I really liked this film.The scene I just mentioned featured a great song from The Velvet Underground "Oh! Sweet Nuthin" which earns it more bonus points. I've heard people rave about the soundtrack of "Away We Go" but honestly I didn't really notice anything exceptional until that scene. I later looked up the soundtrack and saw that all the songs are acoustic guitar pieces by Alexi Murdoch except 1 song by George Harrison ("What is life?"), one by The Stranglers ("Golden Brown") and of course the Velvet Underground tune. So basically if you like Alexi Murdoch you'll love the soundtrack.I would recommend this as a good date movie for a couple that's been together for a while and pondering the future together. It doesn't have the standard start-of-a-relationship drama that's prevalent in most romcoms, but instead it's more like what happens *after* the standard romcom stuff. Similar movies about the "2nd stage" of love include Miranda July's quirky "The Future" which centers around a young couple who is adopting a shelter cat, and for the slightly older late-30something crowd there's the underrated 90s gem by Billy Crystal "Forget Paris" which is almost like a sequel to "When Harry Met Sally". All of these non-formulaic romcoms are well worth checking out.

howardhelly I usually enjoy Sam Mendes' films which is why I'm puzzled that he chose this plot less script. The story can be summed up as blank, characterless couple go around America meeting their horrible, unlikeable friends. The fact that Maya Rudolph's character is pregnant is supposed to make us empathize with the couple and their uncertain circumstances. All I could think about was that they were going to bring a child as boring and lacking in backbone as themselves, and maybe the sequel to this film would be that child traveling America, meeting its own horrible, unlikeable friends. The film is truly that pointless. Allison Janney appears to be carving out a niche for herself as middle-aged woman begging for a shaking, dunk in water, pie in face, or other forms of retribution most suited to an evil harpy masquerading as a human being. After seeing the exact same performance from her in 'The Way Way Back,' I'm starting to fear that this is what she's like in real life. It's a mystery that this film garnered positive reviews. People seem to think decent cinematography and a nice soundtrack can make up for a lack of storyline and even one sympathetic character. They don't.

david_kirkland86 I seen the rating on IMDb was only a 7.1 and i couldn't accept that, the most recent film it reminded me of was Knocked Up but this is a much funnier and a more dramatic character evolving film. This film took me on an emotional roller-coaster ride i cried as much as i laughed but also seen the good intentions of the film. Burt and Verona had a quirky relationship and they seemed very much in love but were unsure about how and where to raise their expectant child. They traveled around North America to see how other couples they know lived and have raised their children. Theses meetings with some very eccentric families helped shape their own views on how to be parents. The dialogue was hilarious and inventive. The acting was great and emotional inviting, i did feel involved in everything that happened in the film and really thought i was there experiencing everything and sympathized for an array of cast members. It was moving and thought provoking not only about how should people raise their children but also about peoples ideas of love and choice of ways to live.

werefox08 Away We Go is a very poor movie. Directed by the highly talented Sam Mendes, this "comedy" simply does not deliver....on any level. John Krasinski (Burt) and Maya Rudolph (Verona) are not married, but it is clear they will always be to-gether. Verona becomes pregnant..and so.. the pair travel around North America ..to cities where they have friends..looking for the best place to bring up a child. Stupid ???......Yes very stupid. Every person they meet is either annoying, weird, or psychotic. We start to feel sorry for the couple until the twist at the end...THEY are the most annoying people in the universe !! This is basically a weak comedy. A predictable tale. The songs that come along throughout this film are the icing on the proverbial cake. They make sure you wont just dislike this...you will try, never to think about it again