RichC2

Written and Directed by Jim Rash, Nat Faxon
Starring - AnnaSophia Robb, Sam Rockwell, Steve Carell, Amanda Peet, Allison Janney, Toni Collette, Maya Rudolph, Rob Corddry, Robert Capron, Jim Rash, Nat Faxon

This caught my eye mostly because 1) Most paid for a Sundance film and 2) It's from the oscar-winning Writers of The Descendants, aka these guys:

dex14

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hraerUq8On4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Charlie Goose

As far as the coming-of-age genre goes, this looks pretty good.

riotinmyskull

saw this trailer today before Before Midnight....looks good.

jfoobar

88% so far on RT out of 16 reviews. I think this description is likely apt:

riotinmyskull

^ that's pretty much what it looks like to me...a more zany version of ADVENTURELAND

Jon2

Looks interesting. I like Sam Rockwell, and Steve Carell as a jerk is something different.

Throwing Copper

Been looking forward to this one for some time. Looks great!

The Bus

Saw this today and it didn't disappoint. It is my favorite film of the year so far (note: my favorite, not necessarily the "best"). Carrell, Collette, Rockwell all turned in great performances and Liam James is great as well. This is a "smaller" film than The Descendants but it is still well crafted and has enough scenes that turn out slightly different than what I may have expected.

Reminded me of a mix of Little Miss Sunshine and You Can Count on Me.

This should do well if people hear about it.

gp1086

Here's my review from Letterboxd:

gp1086

NYC folks, there's a Q&A with the directors tomorrow related to two showtimes, FYI:

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/post/3...-and-jim-rash/

Wish I knew about this today! Womp womp

bluetoast

Pissed that I missed the first few minutes, but it's good enough that I'll probably see it again. I got the gist of it, with the 3/10.

jfoobar

Saw this on Saturday and both of us really enjoyed it. The ending is excellent. I felt like it could have benefited from being a little bit longer, to flesh out the time that the boy spent at the water park. I know someone of his disposition would have become attached pretty quickly, but a little bit more (and a little more development on the home front) would have made the ending a little stronger.

And Allison Janney's performance, holy shit. She chews up the scenery from the very first scene.

Solid 3.5/4

CharlieK

While I don't think I laughed too much during this movie, it did keep a smile on my face throughout. Something that stood out to me was that Steve Carell was arguably the best looking person in the movie. Meaning that they really cast this with average, everyday looking people and not sexy up-and-comers. It added some authenticity to the movie which I appreciated.

Also, while this movie definitely took place 'today', there was so much in this movie that seemed purposefully out of date like the car, water park, and even the kids bike. It gave the movie this almost timeless quality which was nice, but a little weird.

fumanstan

My girlfriend wanted to watch this, so we caught it on Saturday. Very entertaining, and while I agree it wasn't much on laughs (although the eye patch stuff cracked me up) it was a genuinely sweet movie and well acted all the way around, especially the kids. It was definitely weird to see Carell be a dick in a movie like this, but it worked extremely well.

Patman

This was like "Adventureland" but without the snarkiness. As a "coming of age" film centering on Duncan (a 14-year old teenage boy), it's a little rocky in the beginning, mainly because Duncan is so closed-up emotionally. Duncan's mom Pam (Toni Collette) is being courted by Trent (Steve Carell), and for the summer they are spending it at Trent's beach house, along with Duncan's mother, and Trent's teenage daughter, who finds Duncan's presence to be a drag.

Thankfully the film comes to life, as Allison Janney's "Betty" greets the gang as their next door neighbor with a teenage daughter Susanna (Anna Sophia Robb), who Duncan takes an immediate liking to, but can't sputter any intelligible syllables in front of her at first.

Duncan finds an unlikely father figure in Owen (Sam Rockwell), who somehow manages to run the "Water Wizz" water park nearby the beach house (requires a bike ride to get there for Duncan). Duncan blossoms in unexpected ways over the summer, but also has to confront a familiar situation that his mom hasn't the courage the deal with, so Duncan feels trapped by his circumstances. Truths come out, and relationships are strained.

From the same writing team of Jim Rash and Nate Faxon, who won their screenwriting oscar for "The Descendants", this film is paced well, and filled with enough characters and dialogue to invest into Duncan's predicament and this summer in which he turns a corner, somewhat coming out of his shell.

I give it 3 stars, or a grade of B.

mdc3000

I really liked it, despite not being constantly laugh out loud funny, I thought it had a great realism and sweetness to it. Sam Rockwell's character in this movie is my favourite movie character of the year so far - excellent performance, terrific dialogue and extremely entertaining.

SPiRAL

Amen.

teameck

Loved it.

Reflecting on it, I was amazed that the film took many clichés and tweaked them just enough to make me comfortable with the situation without having to follow-through and complete the cliché. That approach also allowed the film to take unexpected detours.

But it wasn't just the plot; having the d-bag boyfriend played by Carell was a great choice because I didn't want to hate him. He wasn't supposed to be reprehensible; he was just selfish-- and a little too rigid in demanding respect instead of commanding it from Duncan. Carell just has that likeable way about him.

The cast on the whole was great-- but Rockwell knocked it out of the park. Like with Carell, I think he was a good choice because he has that "too cool" attitude that grounded Owen's antics. Another actor probably would have taken him too far from what the film needed.

And I agree with the post about Janney. She really did steal every scene, playing a character we really aren't supposed to like.

Hazel Motes

I don't think either picture from the first post were actually in the film.

The Bus

I don't think those were meant to be production film stills. Seems to me they are photos to illustrate who Rash and Faxon are.

Mr. Salty

The first one, of Jim Rash, is from "Community." The second one, of Nat Faxon and Lucy Punch, is from "Ben and Kate."

OldBoy

i'm seeing this with mom actually in a cushy 55 seat theater she likes tonight. looking forward to it.

OldBoy

saw this last night. like others have said, not a comedy, but not a drama per say. just a thoroughly enjoyable film from beginning to end. Faxon and Rash have done it again with this one (after The Decendants). just smiles all the way through.

very heartfelt and real and i swear Toni Collette's facial expressions were just priceless and you could really feel her anguish in some instances.

very nice job directing by the aforementioned Faxon and Rash and writing is just stellar. performance by Sam Rockwell was and i believe will be honored with an Oscar nom just fantastic.

so good!

jfoobar

I think several of you bring up some amazing points. A huge, huge portion of why this film works is due to casting, often against type.

It's not just anguish, but weariness and resignation. She is a world weary woman, particularly in terms of her experiences in relationships. Her facial expression when she was sitting around the fire and sees (with concern about spoilers) two people come around the corner was just perfectly played.

Toni Collette is an amazing actress and really always has been. Her competence was on full display even back in 1994's Muriel's Wedding. It is easy to overlook because of the goofiness of the film itself, but we have the surprising popularity of that film to thank for giving us both Collette and Rachel Griffiths.


What if Carrell and Rockwell's casting had been reversed? Both could have played the other's part with great competence, most especially Rockwell. Yet, the film would have been much less strong with that casting.

And yet I did like her, more so as the film reached its closing moments.