A modern day love story about real love, even when the going gets tough.
Away We Go is the funniest, most charming film I’ve seen in years. It’s the story of a thirty-something couple, Verona and Burt, who are expecting a baby and wonder where they should live once the baby arrives. They travel around the United States looking for the perfect place to raise their child.
At the beginning of the movie, Verona, played by Maya Rudolph, and Burt, played by John Krasinski, live in Colorado close to Burt’s parents. (Verona’s parents have died.) One of the first scenes is their visit to Burt’s parents to discuss the details of the birth. (They’re not keen on having Burt’s parents in the birthing room.) Burt’s parents are played by Jeff Daniels and the incomparable Catherine O’Hara (who played the ditzy blond who sang “God Loves a Terrier” in Best in Show). Both are wonderfully comedic, especially when O’Hara waxes eloquent about her own labor and birth. She’d been surrounded by three handsome firemen because she went into labor so fast she had to call 911. But Burt’s parents have news for them. They’re moving to Europe to pursue a lifelong dream. And they don’t plan on being home until the new baby is two years old. Given that Burt’s parents aren’t going to be present, the couple decide to search for the best place to live.
Their plan is to visit various friends and family who can act as role models and support systems for their new family. Along the way, they encounter some of the funniest characters ever to grace the screen. Alison Janney plays an absolutely whacked out, mentally “off” mother of two overweight, sullen middle schoolers. Janney insists that teenagers only hear what adults say as white noise, so you can say whatever you want around them. Her comments about her breasts and her daughter are completely over the top and well worth watching.
One of the most hilarious parts of the film is when the couple go to visit an old college professor of Burt’s in Madison, Wisconsin. Turns out this professor, whose name is Ellen, takes her parenting very seriously. When Burt and Verona open her office door she is nursing two children: a 3-year-old and a toddler. Later, Burt and Verona go to her house for dinner, bringing a stroller as a gift. Wrong gesture. Ellen and her husband practice “continuum parenting.” They are anti-stroller and pro-family bed. (I’m a big fan of all the concepts that Ellen and her husband espouse. But what I’ve witnessed is the over-the-top righteousness that is too often a part of this kind of parenting.) So this part of the movie alone is the best send-up of the excesses of continuum parenting that I’ve ever seen. There’s a stroller scene that cracks me up every time I think of it .
The script of Away We Go is funny and brilliant. The characters are believable, human, and flawed. But I ended up loving almost all of them. Best of all, this is a modern day love story about real love—even when the going gets tough. As Burt says to Verona, “I will love you forever till the day you die. Even if you get so fat I can’t find your vagina.” Go see this movie!
