As the opening credits of Away We Go play some viewers may find themselves surprised to see that Sam Mendes directed this. Something about the film's thrift store style costumes, modest production values and quirky humour feels like a departure from Mendes' usual glossy style and closer to something which would have come out as part of the "mumblecore" movement of the early-2000s. However, make no mistake, this is a Sam Mendes product through and through, with a script written by husband-and-wife team Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida; both of whom are celebrated authors and make their debut here as screenwriters.
Expecting their first child, Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph) find themselves dissatisfied with their current living situation, especially since Burt's self-involved parents (Jeff Daniels and Catherine O'Hara) have decided to move to Antwerp, Belgium a month before the child's birth and wont be there to support them. Burt and Verona, frustrated at Burt's parents' selfishness, see that this is an opportunity to explore North America to find somewhere else to raise their child.
It is here, in these opening scenes where the first cracks in the Away We Go' premise begin to show, and it spends its entire 94-minute running time straddling sweet and smug in its attitude. Unfortunately, the premise of just picking up and moving to a different place was a fantasy which became an impossibility when the recession really took hold in America in 2008 and 2009; meaning the film comes across as dated upon release. Burt and Verona are shown as being on the edge of poverty, as their apartment's electricity blows out as Burt attempts to plug in an electric heater. So, it begs the question "how are they financing their trip and how will they support themselves when they find a place to live?" These questions are never answered, but Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida seem to be more concerned selling us a fantasy then telling a realistic story.
What certainly works is the chemistry between Burt and Verona, a couple who begin the film in love with each other, and end the film still in love. Their relationship is never in question and they remain in love throughout the film. One could argue that a couple whose love in never in question is simply melodrama, and robs the viewer of a dynamic centre, but their chemistry comes across as natural and lived in. John Krasinski as Burt and Maya Rudolph as Verona have an easy going chemistry and never come across as anything other than totally devoted to one another, but it is Rudolph who is the best; managing to find depths in her character that the script does not provide. For example, it is revealed early in the film that Verona's parents died when she was very young, and her having this baby brings back childhood memories of how loving her parents were. It is never explicitly said, but Rudolph's performance carries over an extremely touching internal concern that she will never live up to her parents' example.
As the happy couple continue on their journey they stop off and meet relatives, friends and acquaintances. The first two encounters are rather broad stereotypes of poor parents: Verona's course, tactless ex-colleague, Lily (an entertaining Allison Janney), who openly insults her daughter as looking "dykeish"; and LN (Maggie Gylenhaal), a hippyish earth mother and childhood friend of Burt's. Fortunately for the film, the other encounters are subtler and sweeter; like Verona's sister Grace (Carmen Ejogo), or Burt's brother Courtney (Paul Schneider), both of whom manage to elicit scenes of pathos and character development for Burt and Verona. However, best of all these encounters is Tom (Chris Messina) and Garnett (Melanie Lynskey), a couple who Burt knew in college and are now married with three adopted children. When the two couples go out to a bar, which is hosting an "amateur dance night", in which Garnett is an active participant. As her dance becomes more mournful, Tom reveals to Burt that Garnett has suffered her fifth miscarriage and that as much as Munch loves her adopted children, something feels missing. Why this scene works can be attributed to Melanie Lynskey, who is one of the finest character actors in her age group. She manages to express so much when she dances that even without Tom's explanation to Burt we would have guessed something was wrong. It works so well that one wishes that the broader encounters from earlier had dialled back their performances just a notch.
However, the final third of the film seems to collapse under its own weight, finally giving in to the smug attitude which runs through the films core. Sam Mendes' direction is easy going and takes its time to tell the story, yet there is a bitter feeling to how Burt and Verona react when they find out that each couple they meet is not as perfect as they are. There is also a feeling that the style of the film is derivative of popular independent films which were released just a year or two before it. For example, the soundtrack is performed by alternative folk star Alexi Murdoch, and his feeble strumming guitar playing throughout sounds like it would not be out of place in Juno, Little Miss Sunshine or Garden State. Unfortunately this means that the film never really crafts an identity of its own, instead feeling like just another indie-hipster comedy drama with superficially quirky characters and a soundtrack that would not sound out of place playing from a university student's ipod.
It seems like a missed opportunity for Mendes, who made this film mere months after completing Revolutionary Road, which told a cynical tale about the American dream failing in the 1950s. Here he tells an optimistic story about love, optimism and the American landscape as something hopeful, but while it is amusing and the central couple are played pitch perfectly, the air of smugness lingers throughout.
6/10
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