Recently, in yet another night spent bored at home, and most likely delaying homework, I was finally able to watch a movie that I have been meaning to watch for sometime. That movie was “Away We Go.” It’s odd that it took me so long to watch the movie; I have HBO and HBO On Demand, so I really could have watched the movie at any time, but for some reason I had to start watching it from the beginning and not On Demand.
Before I move on to my review, this brings up interesting thought, at least to me. I often find it odd that I will watch movies on television, especially ones that I own or that I have seen numerous times previously. Part of it is just pure boredom; I don’t really make plans to watch movies at the house. If something is on, I’ll watch it, but my television viewing is primarily for my TV shows and random sports events.
Anyway, I was lucky enough to catch “Away We Go” close to the very beginning (I may have only missed a few minutes), but it wasn’t enough to be totally confused about the whole plot. One reason I have wanted to see the movie is because of my “The Office” obsession, and John Krasinski is one of the stars of the movie. It’s always nice to see “Jim” do things besides “The Office,” and this movie was no exception. The other main star, Maya Rudolph, made a lot of her fame on “Saturday Night Live,” but she has done some other movies that I like, but her role in “Away We Go” was probably the best thing that I have seen her in.
In the movie, Krasinski (Burt) and Rudolph (Verona) play a couple in their mid-thirties who have just discovered that they are pregnant. Since she is anti-marriage, they have decided that they will stay together without being married to raise the child. However, they are at a loss where to raise the child after Burt’s parents let them know that they are moving to Belgium for a few years. The only reason they lived where they did was to be near his parents, so they decide that they are “free agents” and can live pretty much anywhere, so they set out to find a place to live and raise their child.
Their travels take them to various places, visiting friends and family trying to find the best place to raise their child. Throughout the travels, they encounter various kinds of dysfunction, from married friends who hate their children, a family that is “New Age-y” and raises their children in a way that Burt and Verona don’t like, to friends that have a home full of foster children but are unable to conceive on their own. Through it all, they determine where is best to raise their child, and ultimately just reaffirm their love for each other and their unborn child.
It is not overtly funny, but it is witty, and as I was watching it, I could not figure out why I liked it so much until I saw that it was written by Dave Eggers and directed by Sam Mendes, two of my favorites at doing those things. It definitely felt like an Eggers work, and the visuals and direction felt like “American Beauty” in some regards. They really did a great job with the movie and I encourage you to see it if you haven’t yet. I’d say it’s about 9 out of 10 or so, and it really was a good movie.
Until next time…
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