RSS
Home
Away We Go With Another Positive Review- Enough!
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Before I get to the review, I just realized that I have liked the last five movies I have reviewed. I’m about to make it six with this review of Away We Go. It’s starting to get on my nerves. I enjoy watching a really bad movie and tearing it apart. It’s one of the joys in my life and I’m itching to really hate the next movie I see. So I have to stop trying to find something I want to see and just close my eyes and pick anything.
Anyway, when I saw Sam Mendes had directed this movie I went in with some expectations. After all, he directed American Beauty, one of my top five favorite movies. It’s ranked along with Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction, Memento and Shawshank Redemption.
So I was expecting at least two things, an interesting script and some good humor. Thankfully, I got both. Away We Go has a very simple storyline. Expecting parents, Burt and Verona are faced with a decision. When Burt’s parents inform him that they plan to move more than 3,000 miles away just before the baby is to be born, the two need to figure out where they should start their family. They see no reason to stay where they are considering the only reason they moved there was to be close to Burt’s parents.
So the couple ventures out on a trip to a few different cities to visit old friends and relatives and see which location has the most to offer. Encounters with the highs and lows of loved ones help shape their decision and eventually lead them to their new home.
.jpg)
Now I have heard various things about this movie, good and bad. Some people complain it’s trying to be too “indie” and it’s not original. Or it’s too elitist. What? First off, I think we all need to get a grip if we are expecting complete originality in any movie we see these days. I mean the art of motion pictures has been around for quite a long time now and to come up with some brand new story about some brand new human experience is futile. There are so many remakes and sequels to show us that total originality is barely attempted anymore. That’s why I put so much emphasis on the dialogue and personalities of the characters. They are the two areas you can still manage something orginal.
Second, to call a movie elitist because of the sound track or because it shows characters emotions and nothing explodes is moronic. If a movie tries too hard to “change the world” in some way and looks at itself as more than story telling entertainment, I’ll accept trying to classify that as elitist
Do we really need to get bogged down with labels? Why can’t a movie just be good or bad? It’s too indie, it’s too left wing or right wing, it’s too this or that. STOP THIS MADNESS!!!!!! Just watch the freakin’ movie and decide if you think its good or not.
John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph are very believable as the couple wrestling with the upcoming changes in their life. Some great supporting performances are also a high point for the film. Allison Janney as Verona’s former boss was hysterical. Also, Josh Hamilton, as the pompous wackadoo “new age” husband of one of Burt’s old friends, was terrific.
I like movies that are just about people and not necessarily centered on some major disaster or earth-shattering event. That’s what Away We Go is, a story about the different lives of some regular people and their day-to-day happiness or sadness. It’s something we can all relate to one way or another. I see nothing elitist about trying to achieve that in a movie.
Insert photo caption or credit here
Related Articles:
Comments
With the holiday season fast approaching I felt it was fitting to pull out some holiday movies and decide where my allegiance lies. There are huge …
I was flipping through several movie channels the other night and came upon one of my favortie films. Shawshank Redemption starring Morgan Freeman and …
