It’s summer blockbuster season and with each new release measuring cinematic success becomes more and more difficult. But Away We Go, the latest from Revolutionary Road director Sam Mendes, does not disappoint.
Drawing critical comparisons to recent indie favourite, Juno, Away We Go will have romantics and cynics alike flocking to theatres everywhere this summer and with good reason.

Mellow, rockin’ soundtrack – check.

A charming take on relationship dysfunction – of course.

Plenty of awkward laughter bubbling up from the audience – guaranteed.

A romantic comedy for the nomad in all of us, Away We Go centres upon the journey in search of home. When thirtysomethings and parents-to-be Burt Farlander (John Krasinski) and Verona De Tessant (Maya Rudolph) realize that a broken-down trailer with a cardboard window is no place to raise a child, they embark upon a multiple-city trek to find a place to call home. Their travel takes them all over the continental U.S. and even includes a stop in Montreal. Time spent with family and friends allows the pair to best understand what it is they’re looking for and where it is they’re going together.

Away We Go is a commentary on the ups and downs of love, family, friendship and parenthood. Burt and Verona struggle to balance all these relationships in their lives together. At times things are tense, at others, sweet. But despite all the challenges they face, the two are always both friends and lovers. The comfortable chemistry between Krasinski and Rudolph supports this dynamic beautifully. As Burt and Verona fret about the health of their baby or their boyfriend-girlfriend status and as they ally themselves against neurotic friends and family members, they survive anything with a laugh and an embrace.

At times though, the comic relief in Away We Go becomes too desperate in its frequency, unfortunately detracting from many of the story’s more romantic moments. Writers Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida employ a crude, but not crass, humour. The result is just a tad awkward but somehow only adds to the film’s clumsy-yet-cute charm.

Because the strength of the plot allows for the occasionally poor comedic timing, Away We Go delights with both a moral and a victory. Along their way, Burt and Verona discover that home just isn’t a place; it’s a sense of companionship, feeling and memory.

Published in Volume 63, Number 28 of The Uniter (June 18, 2009)