Rent The Way, Way Back (2013)
3.7 of 5 from 198 ratings
1h 39min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- "The Way Way Back" is the funny and poignant coming-of-age story of 14-year-old Duncan's (Liam James) summer vacation with his mother, Pam (Toni Collette), her overbearing boyfriend, Trent (Steve Carell), and his daughter Steph (Zoe Levin). Having a rough time fitting in, the introverted Duncan finds an unexpected friend in gregarious Owen (Sam Rockwell), manager of the Water Wizz water park. Through his funny, clandestine friendship with Owen, Duncan slowly opens up and begins to finally find his place in the world - all during a summer he will never forget.
- Actors:
- Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, Annasophia Robb, Sam Rockwell, Maya Rudolph, Liam James, Rob Corddry, Amanda Peet, River Alexander, Zoe Levin, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, Adam Riegler, Jeremy Weaver, Robert Capron, Rodney Lodge, Devon Werden, Ava Deluca-Verley, Jake Picking
- Directors:
- Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
- Producers:
- Tom Rice, Kevin J. Walsh
- Writers:
- Nat Faxon, Jim Rash
- Aka:
- The Way Way Back
- Studio:
- 20th Century Fox
- Genres:
- Comedy, Drama
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 17/05/2014
- Run Time:
- 99 minutes
- Languages:
- English Audio Description Dolby Digital 5.1, English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
- Subtitles:
- English Hard of Hearing
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 1.85:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- (0) All
- Bonus:
- The Making of 'The Way, Way Back': Go way, way behind the scenes with fascinating, in-depth interviews featuring the hilarious ensemble cast and incredibly talented writer-directors of the film!
- More Laughs with the Hilarious Cast and Filmmakers in 'The Making of The Way, Way Back'
- Deleted Scenes
- Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes
More like The Way, Way Back
Reviews (3) of The Way, Way Back
MOVING COMING OF AGE COMEDY - The Way, Way Back review by GF
Funny and sometimes emotional coming of age comedy, features an awdward teenage boy who finds himself dragged to a beach house for the summer with his Mother, her ghastly new boyfiriend and his equally unpleasant daugher.
He finds a bicycle and cycles around the town during the long days to escape his family situation and discovers a nearby water amusement park where he is befriended by the Manager, (Sam Rockwell) who takes him under his wing.
If you liked last year's The Kings of Summer, you will find this to be the perfect companion piece as they have much in common.
1 out of 1 members found this review helpful.
Funny and touching movie with great fun characters - The Way, Way Back review by PV
I was expecting some trashy, uber-American, unfunny comedy in this film, but was pleasantly surprised.
This movie is genuinely funny and touching, and hits more than a few nails on heads in its portrayal of a family breakdown and parent-child relationships.
2 points: 1) I have NO idea why the title is what it is - I suppose they had to call it something but it bears not relevance to the film; 2) it is massively better than the tedious and awful Kings of Summer - a really boring, silly. smug and disappointing 1-star movie.
I give this 4 stars. Not perfect, but some decent characters - major and minor - and a snappy script, make this an entertaining and thought-provoking film. Good music too!
1 out of 2 members found this review helpful.
Sensitive and Funny - The Way, Way Back review by NC
This was my welcome back to Cinema Paradiso choice since 2018 - can't lie I was genuinely excited to get a film through the post which I realise makes me very old school!
Anyhow - this film was in a Youtube list of 8 movies that will improve your life (cheesy I know!)
Well - loved this film from the opening scene to the end. Great cast, brilliant and funny script as well as being quite an emotional journey too.
Takes you back to youthful summers and also makes you do a life audit of where you're at now.
Great to see Steve Carell play against type. Brilliant.
0 out of 0 members found this review helpful.
Critic review
The Way, Way Back (aka The Way Way Back) review by George Hooper - Cinema Paradiso
I’m a firm believer that you can hardly ever go wrong with a good coming of age story and The Way, Way Back both reinforces my position and weakens it at the same time. On the one hand its a solid film with some brilliant comedic timing. On the other hand it takes no risks as it uses every cliched plot contrivance possible in its journey to forced enlightenment.
Telling the story of Duncan (Liam James), a shy, unpopular kid who has been forced to vacation at his mother Pam’s (Toni Collette) new boyfriends house. What Duncan finds when he gets there is adults running wild everywhere he goes, even the rundown water park nearby, a place he finds he might well fit in with this group of unusual adults.
Clever and relevant, The Way Way Back misses plenty of opportunities during its run while still showing the promise and potential of writer director duo Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, the minds behind The Descendants, a sombre black comedy with a near perfect script. The two have assembled an impressive cast of misfits and parents from Sam Rockwell’s manchild Owen to Amanda Peet as overly sexed temptress Joan.
The problem is that the story doesn’t feel lived in, it lacks depth. It’s a light hearted summer of supposed fun that never really does much aging, Duncan’s empowerment is slight and unemotional with the series of tired side stories wrapping up in gag inducing fashion instead of coming to their logical conclusion.
While Rockwell is fantastic and the rest of the cast provide laughs aplenty (Allison Janney as a constantly drunk party girl is another highlight) this story never comes to fruition in the ways it really should. Unfortunately for this comedy duo, their story didn’t have all that much story.