Away We Go: A Hilarious, Touching, Emotional Journey
So who wouldn’t want to follow a bearded Krasinski, who plays Burt, down the path that is Away We Go, as he and his pregnant girlfriend Verona (Maya Rudolph) take planes, trains and automobiles to visit friends and family, searching for a place to raise their baby.
Burt and Verona have a very real relationship to which most people (most, not all—a nearby senior citizen wondered aloud "why movies like this get made") can relate: mid-thirties, still not settled down, unsure how to grow up or if they even want to. “Are we fuckups?” Verona asks Burt, and it’s hard to know the answer.
What they encounter on their travels are the extreme examples of every kind of family. The new age hippies, the unhappily marrieds, the cynical and jaded, the family with too many kids, the family with not enough—they’re all there, and it quickly becomes clear that none of these other characters are going to be as deftly created and relatable as our two capable leads. They are the Jim and Pam, to whom we relate entirely.
The script is packed full of amazingly touching moments that aren’t overly sentimental (the way they find out they’re pregnant is not something you’ve seen in the movies before); they’re the kind of moments you want to happen/have happened to you. We give the credit for these moments to the talent behind the camera. With a script by novelist/metafiction writers/editors Dave Eggers (McSweeneys, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius) and Vendela Vida, along side Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road) helming the film, pedigree must be acknowledged, and damned if the collective doesn’t live up to their heartstring-plucking potential.
Not that there aren't laughs—on the contrary, there's hardly a moment we could catch our breath. Bart is sweet, but he's funny, and we did mention the crazies, right? The people they encounter are well beyond what would be considered the pale. As Burt and Verona wrinkle their noses in confusion, recoil in terror, and otherwise try to maintain their sanity, it's easy to feel the craziness based on their reactions alone.
There are small flaws—actions that don’t seem to fit a character, inexplicable mood swings (NOT by the pregnant lady), moments that are just a little too perfect and start to become clichéd—but they’re small enough that you coast through them on a wave of emotion. Away We Go takes you on a beautiful journey with two people trying to figure out what life and love are all about, laughing and crying all along the way.
