There are some movies which are famous and wide-spread only through the weekend of the premiere. They are pointless, useless and stupid. Most often, these movies are comedies. But there are some comedies which are not entirely comedies. There are stories about love and disgrace, hatred and forgiveness, and all these in disguise if a sift and light summer comedy. The Way Way Back is a story of reincarnation, even in such a short time and under such comical circumstances, always touch to depth of soul. It is unlikely that a summer at an Aqua park and several new acquaintances can abruptly change human’s life. However, this is precisely what happens in the The Way Way Back. And it is portrayed so normal and fine-looking, that not to believe it is simply impossible. The studio which brought us once such heartwarming stories as Juno and Little Miss Sunshine is about to restore our faith in humanity one more time. This summer comes yet another one life-affirming, gentle, a little clumsy, but nevertheless charming comedy Way Way Back. It might seem that nothing could be said more about the beauty of the human soul in the guise of an extremely awkward shell and the importance of genuine values than it already has been said, but there are many possible points of view. This time, the point of view belongs to a socially-awkward teenager boy (Liam James), who is constantly bullied by his mom’s douche boyfriend (Steve Carell) and has no basics of social knowledge whatsoever.
A pleasant boy, who had all the changes to grow up and to be a successful man, loses faith. He has nothing to live for, nothing to love, only suffer and disgrace. Nobody cares about him, even his mother has more interest in her new douche boyfriend, who, by the way, always seizes an opportunity to humiliate Duncan. Duncan is self-conscious, he has no self-respect whatsoever. In other words, Duncan is a classical loser. But something changes, when his mother’s boyfriend takes the whole family on a vacation to his beach house. Duncan changes, his life changes and it will never come back to be the same.
By the will of the fate Duncan meets an actual spiritual guide (Sam Rockwell), who explains to him how important is to believe in yourself and how unimportant is the opinions of others. Over time, Duncan becomes stronger and stronger, so he finds a lovely girl who, of course, is at first confused, but then falls for changing Duncan more and more. Throughout the movie, we trace the emergence of Duncan as a man and as a person. All this comes easily, effortlessly, in the relaxed atmosphere of a summer frivolity. It takes only one dig deeper, and immediately comes the realization that The Way Way Back is not a mindless comedy, It is a story of a boy, who became a man. It is a story of love so pure and unconditional, that there are no conventionalities to hold it back.
