Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: The Way, Way Back (2013)

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Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 07-21-2013, 11:19 PM:

CINEMA: AMC Oak View 24, Omaha, NE
AUDITORIUM: 7
PRESENTATION: Mystery Meat Digital/AMC HITS sound
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: Bottom end of sound was weak (not that that's a problem for this feature)
RATING: Three stars (out of four)

THE PLOT: Steve Carrell's a dick. Wackiness ensues.

I see a lot of comparisons being made to this and "The Descendants" due to some common writers. "The Descendants" had a far better, deeper script than this, but this is just as good thanks to its charm.

There's an over-abundance of quirky adult characters in here that probably could have been explored further but aren't because the real focus of the movie is one of the kids, and true kids don't really focus on the depth of adults. The real focus is on the friendship of Duncan (Liam James) and Owen (Sam Rockwell) and, to a lesser extent, Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb). But it's Rockwell and James who are the real stars in this movie.

On the side, Allison Janney is hilarious and Steve Carrell plays an extremely convincing dickhead. Toni Collette is actually kind of toned down.

I have a soft spot for pretty much any movie where the cute blonde girl befriends the dorky loser. This one's no exception.

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 07-26-2013, 10:08 PM:

I so wanted to smack Steve Carrell's character.

Sam Rockwell's characters for me are hit and miss, but here I thought he was excellent (as well as Liam's Owen)

two summer themed movies are turning out to be my faves of the year, this and 'The Kings of Summer'