The opening moments of The
Way Way Back highlight an age-old rating system that every teenager has entertained
in their mind – or they have at least discussed it in a playground: What would
you rate yourself? Duncan (Liam James) struggles to answer, venturing a ‘6’
while his Mum’s boyfriend Trent (Steve Carrell) ignores his answer and claims
that Duncan is a ‘3’. This disconnect and conflict in values between Trent and
Duncan provides the backbone to the film as Duncan desperately escapes the
clutches of the family and finds solace in the Water Wizz – a water park owned
(or at least managed) by Owen (Sam Rockwell). Owen and Duncan strike up an
unlikely friendship and Owen becomes a temporary father-figure to coach Duncan
in life – ensuring that Duncan acts “like a man” by ogling the bottoms of girls
and understands sarcasm.
Likeable, twee and inevitably a “favourite film” for those
who relate to the nervous, awkward teenager, The Way Way Back plays it safe and seems to show a formula that
clearly “works” for the indie film including a large cast that recalls Little Miss Sunshine (Toni Collette and
Steve Carrell appear in both) and the use of the summer as a time for change for
shy, reserved boys – recalling Adventureland
and Youth in Revolt.
The personal, yet “we’ve-heard-it-all-before” sentiment, that
resolves the many situations may be illuminating and important to Duncan but
they fail to address the complexities of others. Trent’s image-obsessed
daughter Steph (Zoe Levin) is merely a character to be mocked as she appears to
be an extension of Trent himself – in one moment, Steph shouts at Duncan about
where he has been and how he has “ruined everything”; it would be nice to see
Steph’s own worries and how she too – like Duncan – is often left to her own
devices to find entertainment. This could be asked of many characters, but even
Trent is clearly “bad” while Duncan’s Mum, Pam, is “good” – is it possible that
Trent may be trying to change through Pam’s influence? Could Pam be a problem
herself? In the Water Wizz world, there is no grey area – it’s all black and
white. Or blue and yellow. But maybe that’s too complicated, eh, buddy?
The mantra of The Way
Way Back is “Don’t Settle”. Sam Rockwell’s lovable, but useless manager, ‘Owen’
offers this advice to coming-of-age Duncan (Liam James) as our teenager vents
his frustrations about his Mum’s boyfriend and his worries about the future. Ironically,
The Way Way Back seems to have “settled”
for direct storytelling and well-known themes. It becomes flat and specific in
the ideas it wants to address – without trying to keep a little ambiguity about
the challenges adults face. But the comedy is well-written while Jim Rash (a
co-writer) and Maya Rudolph as the Water Wizz “family”, alongside a
perfectly-pitched performance from Sam Rockwell, do make you consider why we
work so hard at all – maybe we should just pack in our jobs and all work at
theme parks? The Way Way Back
manages to tell a tale of teenage troubles, and how they can be overcome, but
when teenagers reflect on their own life, I doubt they will see a truth and
instead see the complexities – something The
Way Way Back misses out.
