The Hollywood version of the road trip usually involves a few stop overs along the way, we have the love story road trip we have the comedic road trip and we also sometimes get the combination of the two. "Away We Go" is the new movie from Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes, from the original screenplay by Dave Eggers & Vendela Vida, and featuring music by Alexi Murdoch. The movie is about Exploring the twists and turns in one couple’s journey across contemporary America. Verona (Maya Rudolph) and Burt (John Krasinski) are an unmarried couple in their thirties who are expecting their first child. Living in Denver to be near Burt's parents, the pair are excited to be telling Jerry (Jeff Daniels) and Gloria (Catherine O'Hara) about the Verona's pending birth. Unfortunately they have news of their own, they are moving to Budapest one month before the baby is due and going to stay there for two years.
Despondent the couple decide that they should also look for the perfect place to live. The trip will take them through Arizona, The couple embarks on an ambitious itinerary to visit friends and family, and to evaluate cities to raise their child. The first stop on the grand tour is Phoenix, where the duo spends a day at the dog races with Verona’s irrepressible former colleague Lily (Allison Janney) and her family, that includes her husband Lowell (Jim Gaffigan) and two children Taylor (Conor Carroll) and Ashley (Samantha Pryor). This is one of the funnier scenes in the movie, Janney brings a light comedic touch to a very moving picture, she has some of the funnier lines in the whole movie. Her one line about going butch on us had me laughing so hard i almost cried.
Then it’s on to Tucson, and a visit to the lovely Grace (Carmen Ejogo), Verona’s sister. A touching intimate conversation with her sister, who is her lone living relative, gives Verona a renewed perspective on life, she has quietly held in all her pain over the death of her parents, Grace tells Verona that she must not be afraid to live her life and be happy. This visit is one of the movies most tender aspects, the couple try to fly to their next destination and are told that no pregnant mother over so many months can board the plane, Verona tries to tell them that she is only six months but is not believed. The couple are forced to take the train to Wisconsin for their next stopover. Burt's so called cousin is a college professor and has changed her name to LN (Maggie Gyllenhaal) when they go to her office she is breast feeding her (too old) child Wolfie (Bailey Harkins). She invites the couple to her home for dinner. They bring a gift, a baby stroller that LN says to leave on the porch, she is so hip that she can't see pushing her child away, LN's partner Roderick (Josh Hamilton) elaborate on their all too insane ideas for raising children and running a household.
Burt and Verona run from the house and go on to their next destination, Montreal and a sweeter more gentler welcome from their former college classmates Tom (Chris Messina) and Munch (Melanie Lynskey). Even though their house is full of children, most of them adopted. A night out for the four old friends provides a forced reminder of how much it takes to sustain a relationship and a family, their trip to a bar leads to Munch doing a form of pole dancing in front of a cheering crowd. Burt gets an emergency phone call from his brother Courtney (Paul Schneider), a death in the family has occurred and this forces Burt to side track the trip to go to Miami. Burt and Verona decide that they have known of the perfect place to raise a family all along, the one place that Verona knows so personally, the home of her deceased parents. Here she will make a home where she will bring the her children up.
I give Away We Go a 4 and on my avoidance scale a 0, this is a wonderfully crafted motion picture, the type of film that families as a whole can enjoy, the humor may be a little hard for some younger children but in whole this is one of the better independent films this year. it is light and moving, touching and whimsical all at the same time.
Away We Go is rated R for Language and some Sexual Content
Running time is 1 hr. 37 mins.
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