The Way, Way Back Movie Review

It’s probably bad enough to be a teenager dealing with the breakup of your parents’ marriage and then getting used to your mom’s new boyfriend, especially when he’s a raging ass. But on top of that, if you happen to be the most introverted and socially awkward teenage boy ever dreamed up by a screenwriter, then you might be the main character in The Way, Way Back, a new family-centered comedy drama from Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, the team that collaborated with Alexander Payne on The Descendants, another recent film that finesses the line between family drama and human satire in many of the same ways. In their first outing as directors, they exhibit some signs of growing pains, but otherwise have put together a fairly harmless and sweet film that was close to the best fun I’ve had at the movies this year.

The Descendants Movie Review

As a writer and director, Alexander Payne is out to show that Hollywood studios can produce small character-driven dramas that are also successful. As a screenwriter he’s one of the great contemporary satirists, having given the great social commentary pieces Citizen Ruth and Election followed up by the equally impressive, though less satirical, more dramatic About Schmidt and Sideways. He comes back to us now after a lengthy break from feature film directing with The Descendants.