Reminiscent of Stand By Me, the movie The Way, Way Back is the funny and charming coming-of-age story of 14-year-old Duncan and the friendfs he makes.
Duncan (Liam James) takes a summer vacation with his mother, Pam (Oscar nominee ToniCollette), her overbearing, devious, mean and cruel boyfriend, Trent (Steve Carell), and his daughterSteph (Zoe Levin). However, he has g a rough time fitting in, and findsan unexpected friend in Owen (Sam Rockwell), manager of the WaterWizz water park in the town they are holed up in for the summer. Through his funny, closeted friendship with Owen, Duncanslowly opens up and begins to finally find his place in the world – all during asummer he will never forget.
The Way, Way Back was filmed during the summer of 2012 on Cape Cod, because Steve Carell has a house on The Cape and spends his summers there. He only agreed to make the film if the studio brought the film to him.
Thankfully – they did, as it is the feel-good movie of the year.
Don’t confuse this movie with The Way Back, which was released in theaters last year. – Tim Nasson
