Away We Go

I was interested in seeing this film for two reasons: Dave Eggers (writer) and John Krasinski (star). Eggers wrote one of the most original memoirs (which is a description that should apply to every memoir - but doesn't) I've read in recent in recent memory (A heartbreaking work of staggering genius) and runs the excellent magazine McSweeney's. Krasinski is Jim on The Office enough said. If it wasn't for their involvement I probably would have passed on the film as its plot (couple learns their having a baby and decides to travel around the country trying to find out where they should, and at the same time learn something about themselves) sounded like five hundred other indie films that have come out over the years. Unfortunately while the film has some very nice moments it too often descends into broad comedy to be considered fully effective.

The film does a good job with the interactions between the main couple, capturing the fear and apprehension that I would imagine anybody in their situation (mid-thirties and not really being sure about what they're doing with their lives and suddenly having to deal with a pregnancy) would most assuredly feel. These scenes are handled with a sense of poignancy and realism that makes it all the more jarring when the couple interacts with just about anyone else in the film. The majority of the couples they visit come off as being bad SNL sketches (really, a hippie couple who lets the kids stay in the same bed when they're having sex, won't use strollers because you're pushing the children away from you, and breast feeds other people's babies?) and disrupt the more grounded central relationship. Look I like quirkiness as much of the next guy, but it seems to be a central conceit of most indie films that you have to have quirkiness just for the sake of it (the little miss sunshine syndrome). If you're going to introduce those type of elements into a story they have to feel like an organic extension of the rest of the plot and not just a way to show how 'original' the film is. This is what really makes the work of guys like Wes Anderson so effective. He's able to create a highly stylized universe where all the esoteric characters feel like they belong and enhance, rather than distract from, the overall vibe of the film.

I don't want to leave you with an overly negative of Away We Go. The film does a nice job dealing with the main relationship and has more to offer than a typical road movie/comedy/pregnancy drama (which are rolling off the assembly line every day). Its just not as good as it could/should have been.