Maya Rudolph (of SNL) and John Krasinski (The Office) play a couple about to have their first child, a situation some might find inconvenient considering the two are unsure of where they'll be living when the child is born. Juggling extended family is a complicated process that only parents can truly appreciate, but anyone can latch onto the idea of a Road Movie, which certainly describes Away We Go. Unlike many similar ventures, the journey these two make isn't about the journey as much as the destination. Each time they arrive in a new place, they feel sure it is where they'll end up, and each time they find their hopes dashed against the reality of how banal or even offensive their so-called friends in those places turn out to be.
The antagonists in Away We Go are wonderfully played by some heavy actors, including Catherine O'Hara and Jeff Daniels as Krasinski's wanderlust parents, Maggie Gyllenhaal as Krasinski's sort-of cousin, and Allison Janney (who virtually steals the entire film during her scenes) as Rudolph's former boss. Trips to Phoenix, Madison, and Montreal serve a dual purpose; on one hand these stops help the two main characters scope out where they see themselves living, while the people they visit help them gauge how they see themselves living. The distinction is important, since we obviously spend more time thinking about the former than the latter. The final conclusion Away We Go appears to reach is that when you get yourself right, where you live is immaterial. More to the point, the place you live is not much more than a reflection of how you choose to live, love, and raise your family. It's a sweet but not saccharine message. Subtlety being rare in the theater these days, we loved the gentleness of Away We Go, even if it doesn't approach the depth and raw emotion of director Sam Mendes' previous films like American Beauty and Jarhead. Away We Go feels like Mendes sending a love letter, not in reaction to bad romantic comedies, but as a genuine declaration of the really weird and sometimes wonderful intersection of romance and comedy. Recommended.
