Away We Go is a contradiction in terms: a misanthropic human comedy. Imagine if Stanley Kubrick had directed Harold and Maude, and you’ll have a good idea of what this film’s odd mix of quirky humor and chilly observations feels like.
Which isn’t to say it’s all bad. The two main characters are delightful people you’d gladly spend more time with. It’s just that most of the people the film surrounds them with are awful. And the ending is revealing in a way that the filmmakers probably didn’t intend.
Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph) are a happy unmarried couple in their early 30s. They’re undeniably hip, successful without being total sell-outs, and apparently comfortable only in each other’s company. I think many young couples will identify with them, especially those who think they’ve found the one person in the world who understands them.
In the film’s hilarious opening scene, Burt discovers that Verona tastes different “down there” and wonders if she might be pregnant. Six months later she’s as big as a house. That’s when Burt’s crazy parents (played to the hilt by Catherine O’Hara and Jeff Daniels) break the news that they’ll be moving to Europe for a few years. Left without any close family ties for their kid to grow up with, they set off in search of a new place to live.
The people they meet along the way are something else. Lily (Allison Janney) and Lowell (Jim Gaffigan) are average American boobs who hate each other almost as much as they hate their kids. You should hear the way Lily talks about her daughter’s supposed gayness; it’s like Celia Hodes on Weeds but 10 times as worse. Then there’s LN (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a wet nurse who’s like the evil twin of Gyllenhaal’s anarchist in Stranger Than Fiction.
I guess these characters are there to remind us of how great Burt and Verona are, and indeed, the film is at its best when it drops the supporting players altogether and focuses on the lead couple. There’s a priceless running gag involving Burt pretending to get upset in order to boost the baby’s heart rate. Krasinski and Rudolph are both established comedic performers who prove their acting chops here. Krasinski is especially good, though his appearance (scruffy facial hair, old Army jacket) borders on caricature.
Away We Go is the fifth feature film directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road), and you can feel him trying on something looser and lighter. He puts the characters front and center instead of the cinematography or the production design, and he establishes a laid back tone with the folk music of Alexi Murdoch. Still, it all feels a bit self-conscious.
I have mixed feelings about this film. Long stretches of it are terrific but it left a bitter taste in my mouth. And about that ending: Burt and Verona eventually find a home that essentially cuts them off from everything and everybody. Is that the lesson they learned? That they’re so wonderful that they can only stand to be around each other?
