Coming of age films tend to follow so similar patterns. Awkward main character, seemingly uncaring parents, childish adult mentor and nascent love interest. The question is does The Way Way Back do anything new with the formula or is it a retread of many movies of a similar genre that have come before it?
The Way Way Back sees young Duncan (Liam James) heading off on a summer holiday with his mother Pam (Toni Collette) and her new partner Trent (Steve Carell) and his daughter Steph (Zoe Levin). Arriving at Trent's beach house we soon encounter the other regular holiday goers. Before long the adults are doing their own thing and expecting the kids to either tag along or amuse themselves. Nathan finds a bike and soon encounters friendly local Owen (Sam Rockwell) who runs the local water park.
As you may have guessed by the opening statement The Way Way Back is a coming of age movie. There is no way around it. Straight up and to the point that is what you get. Since it is compulsory for the focus of these movies to be on the awkward loner character it is very difficult to like Duncan when we first meet him. Since the circumstances of this initial set up scene is a very uncomfortable conversation between him and Trent the dynamic between boy and his mother's new boyfriend is set up in the opening moments and it is not pretty. As the movie progresses and Nathan's character gets to develop it becomes easier to like him, and by degrees the Trent character gets more and more insufferable. To their credit Liam James and Steve Carell play these roles extremely well. Toni Collette is great as the Pam, even though you want to yell at her on a number of occasions for her apparent disregard of her son. Again, as the movie progresses you get to see how she is torn between Nathan and Trent. But the real treat of this film is Sam Rockwell's performance as Owen. The apparent carefree child like adult who seems to not have a care in the world (but you just know has a heart of gold) who takes Nathan under his wing and is the catalyst for most of the situations that help Nathan grow. While most of the remaining adults are played to annoying extremes it's the kids that really steal the show, particularly Peter (River Alexander) who initially seems to be just another obstacle to be avoided but almost steals the show in the latter parts of the film.
The atmosphere of the town and the adult/child relationships add a great sense of realism to proceedings. The cast of characters at the waterpark also contrast well with the residents of the beach houses. It all really keeps a nice balance going and removes the tension that builds with the more annoying and obnoxious characters so you never actually end up shouting at the screen.
Anyway, back to my initial question. Is The Way Way Back something fresh? Well, no. It treads the familiar ground covered by so many coming of age films, but it does it extremely well. The experience of watching the movie almost corresponds with Nathan's journey on screen. You start out feeling awkward and not really liking anyone but by the end you are feeling great and knowing that everything is going to be fine.
See this movie.
Alternate title - Kid discovers water park that makes everything better.
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