Away We Go

There is no way for me to be objective about Away We Go. Dave Eggers published one of my first short stories in McSweeney's and I want him to like me. Writing anything critical about his film, co-written with author wife Vendala Vida, is a little daunting.

I also have some things common with the protagonists: Burt (John Kransinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph), a loopy thirty-something couple, are in love with each other, but they have trouble taking care of themselves. Despite their uncertain place in the universe, they embark on an ambitious, perhaps ill-advised adventure, full of treacherous risk: they are having a baby.

Verona is six months pregnant when the film starts and the couple learns that Burt's wacky parents (Catherine O'Hara and Jeff Daniels) are moving to Belgium only weeks before the baby is due to be born. Verona's parents are dead. She makes the bold decision to seek new roots for their unborn child, and Burt, clueless and lovable and always dressed in unfortunate plaid clothing, goes along with her plan. Over the course of Away We Go, they criss-cross the country (with a brief pit stop in Montreal) in search of their perfect new beginning.

I watched their earnest struggle to find home and happiness, carefully taking notes. Like Burt and Verona, I want the perfect place to live, don't have have a full time job rooting me to a specific place, and have an unborn baby to think about. But I was unable to laugh at the broadly sketched jokes penned by Eggers and Vida. Nor did I feel moved by director Sam Mendes' carefully choreographed emotional moments. Instead, I judged the journey of this couple for accuracy -- and felt it sorely lacking.

Why, for one, did not they have better friends? For the sole purpose of satire, it would seem. Burt and Verona go from place to place, visiting friends and family; each visit offers a fresh batch of comic disappointments. In Tuscon, they meet up with Alison Janney, a former boss who makes fun of her unappealing children while her decidedly unappealing children are still in earshot. Burt and Verona move on to Phoenix, just so Verona can have a tearful conversation with her younger sister in a store showroom's bathtub.

Next, they meet up with free spirit Maggie Gyllenhaal, who breastfeeds her children in public and won't use a stroller because she doesn't want to "push her children away." This earth mother is a direct target for derision. This seems unfair: poking fun at natural childbirth and a hippie attitude is one thing, but Away We Go pays no respect whatsoever to Gyllehaal's character's alternative lifestyle.

Maya Rudolph is an appealing actress and it's terrific to see her in a leading role. Her Verona is someone I might like to know. Burt, however, is a walking disaster. The so-called sensitive man deserves better representation. In every crisis, I saw him providing an inadequate response. One of his jobs as expectant father is to reassure the hugely pregnant Verona that he loves her. "I will love you," he says. "Even if you get so fat that I can't find your vagina."

This particular line received big laughs on two separate occasions from the screening room audience -- but I was disgusted by Burt's inept attempts at providing comfort. Even worse are Burt's efforts to reassure Verona that the baby's heart rate is fast enough. How does he do this? By picking a fight with Verona and then bringing a stethoscope to her prominent belly. It's supposed to be funny -- ha, ha, ha -- when he yells at Verona for effect, but I was appalled. And besides, who really owns a digital fetal doppler monitor?

The ultimate failure of Away We Go lies with the the emotional manipulation employed by Mendes. Mendes recent Revolutionary Road, another film aimed at the the literary set, was a handsome film, and not nearly as potently ugly and heartrending as the source material by novelist Richard Yates. Both productions unsuccessfully rely on cheap tricks to make their points: artful cinematography and an overbearing score. The filmmaker does not trust his more than capable actors to do their job.

Time and time again, Burt and Verona strike thoughtful poses while a guitar strums plaintive chords and mournful singer Alexi Murdoch tells the audience just how to feel. The film culminates in a maddening fairytale ending. The couple rests side by side on the steps of their newly discovered dream house, looking out at a perfect sunset over the water -- the kind of house I'd consider selling my first born child for. In the meantime, I'd settle for a bigger apartment. Maybe a washer and dryer.

AWAY WE GO

Starring: John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Allison Janney, Jim Gaffigan, Jeff Daniels
Directed by: Sam Mendes
Produced by: Mari Jo Winkler-Ioffreda, Pippa Harris, Edward Saxon
Running Time: 1 hr. 37 min.
Release Date: June 5th, 2009 (limited)
MPAA Rating: R for language and some sexual content.
Distributors: Focus Features