The scene in which she submerges herself in the pool after learning her mother is dying finds an echo in Duncan's trip down the water park's top chute. Duncan shares DNA with both the George Clooney character in that film, tip-toeing out of the shallows, and with Shailene Woodley, who played his daughter. Photograph: Claire FolgerĪnd, just like The Descendants, The Way, Way Back shows strained relations in an apparently ambrosial setting, fishes out of water washed up and scrabbling. Toni Collette and Steve Carell in The Way, Way Back. "A blobby guy who sits on a chair, says some things and then falls." "I saw you more as Humpty Dumpty," says Rash. "Or the weird guy at the bridge who won't let them cross. "A hopeful ending." He directs a loafer at his companion. It's a fairytale, right? What with the wicked stepfather, the fairy godfather, the Oz-ish setting and the happy ending. Faxon and Rash cameo as two of Rockwell's employees: the former as a genially pervy surfer type, the latter catty and languorous behind Dahmer specs and a kinky tache.
Strongest are the performances: Carell brilliantly mean and smug, Allison Janney off-the-leash as a boozy neighbour, Sam Rockwell perfect casting as the goofy manager of the local water-park, who takes Duncan under his wing. This direct psychological trigger explains the film's mix of emotional soap (climaxing in cathartic vindication) and nostalgic comedy. That same exchange happened to Rash himself, with his then-stepfather, in about 1984, when the film was supposed to be set before budgetary constraints kicked in. Trent corrects him: he's a three, and this summer he needs to shape up. The opening scene shows Trent pep-talking his potential stepson while the women nap. Trent (Carell) has Steph, a bitchy blonde senior Pam (Collette) comes with Duncan (Liam James), a gauche 14-year-old, and the film's de facto star. The car also contains each of their children. But while in that first film they were siblings, here they're lovers, off for their first extended vacation in his Massachusetts beach house. Its overlap with the first isn't just tonal: it starts and ends in a car, with Toni Collette and Steve Carell. The Way, Way Back, a bittersweet coming-of-age comedy, premiered at Sundance this January, where it was snapped up by Fox Searchlight for $10m, and groomed to follow previous acquisitions Little Miss Sunshine and Juno. Later that spring, they shot their first film as directors as well as writers (they also pop up in the supporting cast). Rash and Faxon struck not just while the iron was hot, but while the statuettes were still in the furnace. AnnaSophia Robb and Liam James in The Way, Way Back.
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