The Way, Way Back

The jokes are often double-edged, the performances always spot-on. The Way, Way Back doesn't re-invent the teenage turning point genre, but Faxon and Rash offer a breezy new spin. You'll see more inventive movies this year but few more endearing.

Co-directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, who won an Oscar for writing "The Descendants," are smart enough to mostly stay out the way and let this talented crew bring their script to life.

Beautifully executed, loaded with sharp observational moments, and never cheats either its characters or its audience by descending into raunchy teen-movie cliché. This is a delicately balanced and often very funny holiday alternative suitable for pretty much the entire family.

The performances and the ready supply of one-liners make this an amusing look at a new generation getting lost down memory lane.

The film's not as good as its cast, but The Way, Way Back has its moments.

The coming-of-age tale The Way, Way Back is sweet, heartfelt and utterly trite and predictable from beginning to end.

Praises the electric carelessness of teenage angst while depicting it as if it were ultimately no more exciting, though no less pleasant, than an hour in the wave pool.

Really love this movie, it feels like it signifies growth and it really accurately displays tension and feeling out of place. The comedy is there and the tension is bold. I really love Steve Carrell as the boyfriend aswell. He genuinely puts out the aura of being an absolute ****, and when he blows up and is about to attack the MC I think he did a really good job of seeming angry and scary. Great movie that you just don't get to see enough of anymore.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Very nice little film. Good script with a heart and great character development. The whole cast does a great job but Allison Janney and Toni Collette are especially good in this. Both are actresses with a lot of experience and it shows. They are great. The main character (the teen boy) does a great job too. It is a movie with a little bit of comedy but also some really touching moments, especially towards the end and the mother´s situation. I recommend it without a doubt.

Disappointing. Sam Rockwell and Janney characters were over the top. Didn't care about any of the characters.------------------------------------------------------

There are good movies, bad movies, and movies so south of bad that I had to walk out early on. It's so much worse than terrible that it was painful to sit through the "humor." I don't know whether to be more surprised that only two users rated it negative or that so many people liked it. I am certainly surprised that Andrew O'Heir gave it 80. Basically you have parents who treat their children terribly, which isn't funny, and running gags like unsuccessful lazy eye surgery that really isn't funny. Add to that the fact that Janney either has no flair for comedy or her director has no talent for comedy, or both.