'The Way, Way Back' Refreshes Summer Scene with Charming Coming-of-Age Tale

Teenage wallflower Duncan (Liam James) finds a positive outlet working at a local water park.

There is hardly a kid out there who doesn't look forward to those glorious three months known as summer vacation. After nine grueling months of hitting the books day in and day out, who wouldn't want to spend an entire summer on the beach oblivious of responsibility and expectations.

For Duncan (Liam James), a summer in a remote beach town isn't some cakewalk, particularly when you're an introverted pubescent wallflower raised by a bunch of oddballs who nobody quite gets. On top of that, Duncan can never shake off the reality that his mother's overbearing boyfriend Trent (Steve Carell) ridicules him from the start, flushing what little confidence he had right down the toilet. But when a water park manager (Sam Rockwell) takes Duncan under his wing, the summer looks a bit brighter in The Way, Way Back.

First time directors Nat Faxon and Jim Rash tackle The Way, Way Back in a fashion eerily familiar to  acclaimed Little Miss Sunshine and coming-of-age flick Juno. For starters, The Way, Way Back rounds up the same full deck of the oddballs from those two films to include Steve Carell, Toni Collette and Allison Janney who fuel the fire for an already dysfunctional summer at the beach.

Despite a strongly rounded ensemble cast intertwined by tightly written subplots, what keeps The Way, Way Back pulsating is Duncan finding friends in the most unexpected places, who genuinely care for him much more than his immediate family. Duncan's friendship with Rockwell's Owen pulls at the viewer's heartstrings without any resistance and even though Owen is a grown man in a teenager's body, their bond triumphs as a catalyst to break Duncan out of his shell.

Sam Rockwell by far gives the standout performance of The Way, Way Back as Owen. Initially, Duncan has difficulty latching onto Owen's laid back personality, even to the point where he's ready to leave the water park when he's jokingly to for having too much fun doing nothing. Rockwell thrives when he's having too much fun with his role, but that's almost every scene he's in.   

The Way, Way Back maintains a down-to-earth profile that's refreshingly here not to exclusively appeal to a limited indie fan base. For anyone who didn't fit in as a teenager or hung out with misfit grown-ups, The Way, Way Back is a relatable gem of a film that plays with the notion of overcoming social adversity. Faxon and Rash don't feel to need to bore viewers with flashing messages about being oneself with the end result naturally emerging out of the screenplay's wit and charm.

There's plenty of plotting to round out The Way, Way Back interconnecting all the characters and their quirky subplots around the film's shy protagonist. At first glance, the script appears to be overambitious, setting up too much in too little time, but all the main players are fleshed out with such precise dialogue and actions to convey who they are and their importance to the much larger picture.

While Duncan has to overcome his confidence, he's not the only one who has to overcome issues even though he feels like he's isolated in all walks of life. His mother (Collette) struggles with her own insecurities, doing nothing about Trent's domineering behavior and lets him walk over the both of them. And while those are the few true dramatic moments of The Way, Way Back, it doesn't chop away at the film's smart comedic backbone.  

For those exhausted from superheroes and big noisy blockbusters, The Way, Way Back is straight up the perfect ticket for a charming coming-of-age story that the whole family can truly appreciate.

GRADE: A- (9/10)