Comments on Cinema Viewfinder: Movie Review: Away We Go

I have not seen the movie, but I've seen the trail...

2009-07-06T14:53:39.134-04:00

I have not seen the movie, but I've seen the trailer quite a lot (cutting promos for it) and your review really fills in the gaps.

and you're right, John K is SO cute.

I wasn't a big fan of this film. As usual, I feel...

2009-07-05T21:13:38.072-04:00

I wasn't a big fan of this film. As usual, I feel like Mendes has an outsider's perspective on the American lifestyle that undermines the stories he chooses to tell (with the exception of Road to Perdition, where it worked since in a sense he was depicting the gangster genre rather than true gangsters). American Beauty worked better for me because Alan Ball's script seemed to be over the top enough to overcome Mendes' staid persona.

But Away We Go seemed to be screaming for an pull-all-the-stops comedic treatment a la David O. Russell's Flirting with Disaster, another road movie very reminiscent of the former. Jeff Daniels, Catherine O'Hara, Allison Janney, and Maggie Gyllenhaal's respective characters were outsized enough that the film seemed to demand that it be more cartoony and less realistic.

That being said, I was still very impressed with Maya Rudolph's natural ability, especially in the dramatic moments, and would love to see what someone like Paul Thomas Anderson (are they still together) would do with her in one of his pieces.

You're right, no doubt about it, we live in an age...

2009-07-04T16:03:03.606-04:00

You're right, no doubt about it, we live in an age of "option-saturation", which makes people strive for the next best thing on a very "a.d.d." fashion, even when on many cases, it's just a mirage.

Not necessarily the kind of movie I'd normally watch, but your review definitely sparks some interesting thoughts... I think I'll check it out.

Great review, rock on!

Very well said! This movie had a deep effect on me...

2009-07-03T19:11:24.655-04:00

Very well said! This movie had a deep effect on me - it made me want to come hom and be a better partner.

Is that a cheesy thing to say? Oh well, I said it anyway...