Away We Go (2009)

Jack & I saw this a few days ago, and later that night we met up with John to hear some music. "How was the movie?" asked John. "It was a chick flick," replied Jack. I liked it a lot, but I suppose that could serve as confirmation of Jack's assessment. On further questioning, Jack insisted that he enjoyed it as well. I can only presume that he thought it too much of a chick flick for John to like, or perhaps that he was teasing John, and maybe me as well. He remains inscrutable on this one (and we haven't gotten back to the topic). Director Sam Mendes burst into features with the Oscar winning American Beauty in 1999, followed by Road to Perdition (2002) starring Tom Hanks, the excellently bleak Jarhead (2005) with Jake Gyllenhaal, and then Revolutionary Road last year, starring Mendes' wife Kate Winslet opposite Leonardo DiCaprio. As fans of NBC-TV's The Office, Jack & I looked forward to seeing John Krasinski (Jim in The Office, Leatherheads (2008), and License to Wed (2007)) starring with Maya Rudolph (I just learned she is the daughter of the late pop-jazz singer Minnie Riperton ("Lovin' You"), but she's better known for at least 7 years on Saturday Night Live; and she starred in Idiocracy (2006), which I found pretty hard to sit through). Krasinski usually plays the straight man, and this is no exception. As in The Office, he is faced with ludicrous situations and outrageous people, and he reacts both passively and aggressively (he gets some fun quirks of his own, too).

The writers, Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, who are married, are featured prominently on most of the movie posters. Turns out they are novelists, and Eggars was nominated for a Pulitzer and has written the script for the upcoming Spike Jonze-directed Where the Wild Things Are. The supporting characters range from mad to worse, and Krasinki and Rudolph's Burt and Verona frequently channel The Office's Jim and Pam as the only sane people on the screen (without the at-the-camera reaction shots). Noteworthy contributing cast members include Catherine O'Hara (loved her in Beetle Juice (1998) and all the Christopher Guest movies, especially For Your Consideration (2006)), Jeff Daniels (some faves: Radio Days (1987), Fly Away Home (1996), 2 Days in the Valley (1996) (which was Charlize Theron's screen debut), and The Squid and the Whale (2005)), Allison Janney (who first came to my attention in the fabulous Big Night (1996) (I have got to add this to my food movie list); in 1999 was in American Beauty, 10 Things I Hate About You, and Drop Dead Gorgeous; major mom parts in Hairspray and Juno in 2007; and, of course, 155 episodes of The West Wing on NBC), Jake's sister Maggie Gyllenhaal (known for offbeat roles--do see The Dark Knight (a relatively mainstream role), Stranger Than Fiction (2006), Secretary (2002), Donnie Darko (2001) in which she played Jake's character's sister, and the very dark SherryBaby (2006)), Josh Hamilton (Outsourced) in a long blonde wig, and Melanie Lynskey, who co-starred with Winslet in Heavenly Creatures (1994), which was the film debut for both of them (I really need to see it one day), playing the friend in Montreal.