The Gown Student Newspaper at Queen's University Belfast

REVIEW: Away We Go

Directed by Sam Mendes, this film follows an unmarried couple as they travel around America trying to find the perfect place to raise their unborn baby. On the way, they encounter old friends and relatives, to both hilarious and heart wrenching effect. It is hard to decide who really makes this film the classic that it is: Is it the leading characters or the support characters?

BY CATHERINE WYLIE

Personally, I found the loving relationship between Burt and Verona to be the most convincing and engaging love affair seen in recent cinema. Their characters were indefinitely likable, and at no point did I ever quiver on that viewpoint, which demonstrates how wonderfully played the characters were by John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph.

They conveyed a relationship which would be envied by any human being. Burt is the perfect gentleman, but infectiously witty with it, as well as displaying some typically lad-ish traits which only make him more accessible. The way he talks about how he wants to be as a father are particularly enjoyable. Verona is the woman who Burt admits he can’t wait to see as a mother, and who worries that the pair of them are “fuck ups”. Watching them on screen almost feels voyeuristic because the chemistry between them is so real.

The support characters come in such variety and contrast. One of the most memorable is Verona’s old boss who says that she now “tucks her tits into her socks”, and states that her son’s ears stick out so much that he looks like a trophy. I particularly liked the way in which Burt disapproved of the language and conversation topics she used around the children ; it resulted in yet an extra little cranking up of his likability factor.

One of the biggest laughs in the theatre came at the point when Burt and Verona visit his childhood friend LN. She and her husband live by the rule of banning ‘the three S’s’ – separation, sugar and strollers. So when Burt and Verona bring a stroller as a gift it doesn’t go down well. In fact, the entire visit is a disaster and Burt ends up getting extremely angered at the constant loony parenting advice being thrown their way. This particular scene ends with Burt pushing LN’s young son frantically around the dining room in the stroller, which is belly achingly laugh-out-loud funny.

One of the saddest scenes of the cinematic year in my opinion is when their school friends, who have adopted a number of children, reveal to them that they have endured five miscarriages. The girl pathetically and drunkenly dances around a pole in a club showcasing amateur acts, and any viewer would have to be a stone not to get glassy eyed.

This film is about the decisions and events life throws at us, and coming of age at a later age so to speak. It evokes laughter, shock, tears, sadness and empathy in abundance. The viewer wants Burt and Verona to be happy, they want them to avoid the perils of what their friends and relatives face, they want just what Burt and Verona want themselves, and are potentially quite envious of them. One of my favourite film scenes ever occurs in this film, as Burt and Verona lie on the trampoline and make vows to each other which aren’t wedding vows, but are arguably more important and practical. That is of course eliminating Burt’s request of Verona that, should he die, she is to tell their daughter that he was killed by Russian soldiers during a bid to save 200 Chechnya orphans. And THAT is why I loved this film.

p.s. Burt and Verona are not fuck ups!

Tags: Away We Go, Cinema, Indie, QFT, Sam Mendes

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 3:16 pm and is filed under Arts + Ents. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.