*Seriously. What does The Way, Way Back even mean???
I seem to have a thing for coming-of-age, borderline-indie, weirdly comedic films. (Not that I'm complaining, but honestly, Ariel.) The Way, Way Back is a film about Duncan, a 14-year-old who has social anxiety, his dysfunctional family, and a summer that I really wish would happen to me. Basically, Duncan, his mother, Pam, his mother's boyfriend, Trent, and his mother's boyfriend's daughter, Steph, spend the summer at Trent's summer home (which is right on the beach and next door to some ridiculous people, let me tell you) and Duncan, being awkward and shy, is thoroughly not enjoying anything and definitely doesn't fit in until he finds himself working at a water park and making the best of friends with Owen, the park's manager.
Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy.
Except The Way, Way Back isn't one of those comedy films where you sit and laugh for an hour and a half, and that's it. No, this film surprised me in so many ways. I've decided to share a collection of my reaction notes that I took while watching the movie, so like - enjoy.
quote:
i thought it was another indie movie until i looked at the imbd description???
omg betty i want u to be my mother YEE HAWWWW
tbh duncan reminds me of me - doesn't say a word and doesn't want to do anything
SUSANNA IS SO MOODY AND ANTI-SOCIAL YAAAAS
man these adults are great where can i find them
wow how many loners are in this show
duncan is so awkward kill me i'm getting second hand embarrassment
i like everyone but duncan i don't think this is supposed to happen
BETTY 'my titties need some colour'
MAYA RUDOLPH
JIM RASH
'how did it happen?!' 'see, no one knows except the kids in the tube and our lord Jesus Christ, but he's a little hard to get a hold of. he won't return my calls; we wore the same shirt to a party and it got a little awkward.'
NO TRENT STOP KISSING PISSY FACE I DON'T KNOW WHAT HER NAME IS
oh it's joan
awkward kid accepted because of his awful dancing moves - nah
WHY IS EVERYTHING FALLING APART I WANT FUNNY OWEN AGAIN
i see u joan
no i'm gonna cry he just wanted to kiss her :(((
all of these adults are like children who haven't grown up I WANT TO KNOW THEM
last moment of triumph and success i am so sad
why
unquote.
(I realize that literally tells nothing about the movie, but there you have it. I'm expected to write a review based on those notes. I'd like to applaud myself for making things so easy for future!Ariel.)
Storm chasers, man.
Anyway - The Way, Way Back surprised me because I didn't know what to expect. Perhaps I was expecting some YA-novel sort of thing, with the awkward kid getting the girl and everyone being happy in the end. But the thing is - it wasn't like that. Trent cheats on Pam with his neighbour/friend/past lover/???? Joan and things don't go how they're supposed to. Ultimately, the film was about Duncan and how he found himself in a group of misfit adults. Owen is the manager of a water park that he doesn't really manage, Caitlin is the one who actually manages the park and who Owen has been pursuing for an entire three years, Roddy likes checking teenage girls out on the waterslide, and Lewis keeps saying he's leaving for real this time but always comes back - and I see why. Because if I was Duncan, I'd want to spend all day with them, too.
Most of the characters are there for comedic relief, and if you don't like sarcastic humour, it would be a hard pill to swallow. But I loved it - because I saw a part of myself in every character, especially Duncan. He's this kid who can't stand being his family and finds it hard to make new friends and, like me, when he was forced to break up a dance party at the water park, he almost had a complete meltdown. (Seriously, don't ask me to call someone on the phone because I will actually run away.) And yet, he found a home in this ridiculous group of adults that accepted him with all his social anxiety and awkwardness and complete lack of ability to sense when someone's making a joke. They didn't care that he can't dance or talk to girls. In little ways, I think they were all like that and they all just wanted to fit in, just like Duncan did.
Exhibit A: Duncan's nickname at the water park
is Pop 'N Lock.
In the end, there isn't much to tell. Like The Kings of Summer, this movie wasn't about Duncan getting the girl or getting over whatever anxiety he had. It was about finding acceptance in the most unlikely people and learning to be okay with himself even in the face of all of his hardships. Trent didn't accept him, Steph didn't accept him - at times, I don't even think his own mother accepted him. But Owen did. Owen is the cool uncle we all want, the big brother a lot of people don't have. He teaches Duncan that you can't die wondering, that there's so much more out there than whatever problems you have, that you can't settle because the whole world is waiting. It takes an hour and a half of Betty yelling random things at her lazy-eyed son, Trent and Pam falling out, and Betty's daughter, Susanna, learning to be friends with Duncan for the biggest lessons to be learned, and I didn't realize it while I was watching - but afterwards, when Duncan is leaving after saying his last goodbyes and his mom clambers into the backseat with him so that they can face the world together, it all sort of hit me at once:
This movie is really good. Some of the acting isn't the greatest, and some of the plot lines are a little unbelievable, but it taught me a thing or two about accepting myself and cutting my own path instead of letting things happen. And I like that.
I'm rating The Way, Way Back four cookies out of a possible five. Go down blazing, lads.
BETTY!!!!
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