Away We Go
June 28, 2009
Sam Mendes takes a third crack at American domesticity with this sometimes charming, sometimes poignant, and sometimes annoying look at a couple in their early 30's wandering the country during the late stages of a pregnancy, unawares about where to put up their life's tent. As the totally in love couple, TV players John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph have an almost sickeningly sweet chemistry, as they bounce from one group of friends and relatives to the next, each one kookier and/or more life lesson worthier, they serve to help the audience to recognize potential normalcy in the bizarre sub-genre that is raising children in the 21st century (be it traditional, lubricated with booze, or new wavy), and they're the best reason to see the film. Krasinski, who does his best to shed the familiar ironic discourse of Jim Halpert, puts on a silly (and fully bearded) face, playing the dad-to-be with careful optimism, while Rudolph, who knows a thing or two about being pregnant, is grounded in a reality that finds the couple alone and scared with an all-too-advancing baby only months away; the emotions of the film are worn quite literally in her big eyes and sweet voice. The supporting players aren't quite as good; Jeff Daniels and Catherine O'Hara have one relatively funny scene as Krasinski's parents, who shock the couple with news that they're moving to Africa for two years, and Chris Messina and Melanie Lynskey as college friends, riddled with bad luck trying to have a baby, anchor the film's saddest stop, but over-the-top comedic bits with Allison Janney as an aggressive, boozy aunt, and Maggie Gyllenhaal as a devastatingly annoying hippie new wave mother feel forced, and all Mendes can do to ease us through them is to show puzzled reaction shots of our stars.
If the film feels familiar it's because it fits nicely into two modern categories: the Sam Mendes marriage film, and the pseudo-dramatic pregnancy comedy. In the former it falls somewhere between “American Beauty's” critical satire of American suburbia and “Revolutionary Road's” angrier examination of a crumbling couple and an unwanted pregnancy; while in the latter, the film has poignant and quirky moments out of “Juno”, but doesn't hold up to the perceptive analysis of the funnier “Knocked Up”. I imagine it will appeal more to people within the range of the leading characters, late 20's, early 30's middle class couples who have just experienced the trepidation of a first pregnancy, who find their youth waining with every passing day (“The Hangover” is a more extremely comedic take on the same ennui), and for the rest of us who either aren't there yet, or are way passed, it's a mildly charming, independent flavored diversion of stuff we've seen before.
By Adam Suraf