The Way, Way Back

"A contender for feel-good comedy of the year, The Way, Way Back treads a similar path to Jim Rash and Nat Faxon’s other Oscar-winning film, The Descendants, with memorable characters, heartfelt themes and a great cast. This isn’t quite as nuanced or complex as the George Clooney drama, sticking to a crowd-pleasing formula, broad humour and familiar coming-of-age sentiment. And although you can fairly predict the girl-next-door romance and protagonists’ character arc from gloomily awkward to cheerily confident, it’s not hard to warm to the film when you spend a good portion of it laughing out loud."

"An endearingly sweet coming-of-ager."

"The young hero of Nat Faxon and Jim Rash’s summertime dramedy resembles nothing so much as a mollusk without a shell."

"Once again, the oppressed American teen-ager lopes and shuffles to center stage, there to display his woes."

"Has the charm of timelessness but also more than a touch of triteness."

"When the credits roll, one is left thinking less of the fate of the characters than of the rollcall of Sundance offerings this film resembles."

"Faxon and Rash cut Duncan a clear, broad path to growth and perspective, but the audience can see where it's going long before it gets there."

"Aside from Carell's limited turn at doing nasty, it all feels terribly familiar, in a half-baked, Little Miss Sunshine-lite sort of way."

"Despite the familiarity of this setup, Way Back is a charmer."

"Labors under the delusion that all filmmakers need to engineer a crowd-pleaser are a collection of tried-and-true conventions and a healthy dose of nostalgia."