The Way Way Back (2013)

We loved it! A 14 year old boy goes with his mom, her boyfriend, and boyfriend's daughter to a beach house and finds solace from the awful boyfriend with quirky adults at a nearby water park. Liam James (2012, Psych (TV) flashbacks) shines as the boy, Duncan, who comes of age that summer. Steve Carell (last blogged in Hope Springs, in which he did no comedy) again won't have you laughing at the handsome, narcissistic, unkind Trent who somehow has Duncan's mother Pam, played by Toni Collette (most recently in Hitchcock) believing he's a good guy. The comedy comes from, among others, Allison Janney (Liberal Arts) as Betty, the drunk next door who spends most of the movie raucously laughing, and the crew at the water park, led by the brilliant Sam Rockwell (Seven Psychopaths) (do watch this video of his dancing on Jimmy Fallon's show--what a cool dude!) as Owen, who help to ease Duncan out of his shell. No, not literally! Get your mind out of the gutter. Amanda Peet (Please Give) and Rob Corddry (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World) also provide humor as Trent's friends Joan and Kip, and Maya Rudolph (Friends with Kids) is Owen's patient girlfriend Caitlin. The other kids are Trent's bitchy daughter Steph, played by Zoe Levin (new to me but I'll see her when I finish the current season of Arrested Development), and Betty's kids Peter (River Alexander) and Susanna, played by AnnaSophia Robb (I didn't see her starring roles in Because of Winn-Dixie (2005), Bridge to Terabithia (2007), Soul Surfer (2011), nor the TV series The Carrie Diaries). Alexander and Robb are every bit as good as the others (Levin doesn't have much to do).

Nat Faxon and Jim Rash won an Oscar two years ago for writing the screenplay of The Descendants. I hope they're nominated next year for this one, writing and/or directing. They have cameos as members of the water park crew--in the trailer Faxon (16 episodes as Ben in Ben and Kate) is the one telling the shapely girl to wait before before sliding and Rash (70 episodes as Dean Felton in Community) is the one who squeals, "My doctor said not to get water on my face!" Rash said in an interview that when he was 14 he had a conversation with his stepfather similar to the one that opens the trailer and the movie and that inspired the screenplay.

Water Wizz is a real park (funny name!) in Wareham, Massachusetts, just southwest of the Bourne and Sagamore bridges to Cape Cod, and much of the movie was shot there and nearby.

Some of the promotional material says "From the studio that brought you Little Miss Sunshine and Juno." It's a bit of a reach. Fox Searchlight did distribute all three but wasn't involved in the production of this one.

The music includes original material by composer Rob Simonsen (Girl Most Likely, two more coming out this year, and was "assistant to composer" on Little Miss Sunshine (2006)) and plenty of catchy tunes. You can listen to a few tracks of the composer's on his site, read the 23-song list on imdb, read about the 15-song album on squidoo, and preview those songs on amazon.

I'm not the first to say this movie is a welcome respite from the bang bang action movies out this summer (not that there's anything wrong with them) and definitely not the first to recommend it (83% critics and 90 audiences on rottentomatoes). Go ahead and see it now. You'll thank me later.