Review of Away We Go (2009) by Harris W — 04 Jun 2010

So Sam Mendes takes a break from his more serious hitting movies for an indie film...which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

John Krasinski (Jim from "The Office) is a great casting choice as one of the main characters, as I was kinda blown away at the idea of casting Maya Rudolph in a serious role, but she pulls off a surprisingly honest and decent performance.

The film involves this couple, whom has recently learned that they are expecting their first child, searching around to find the perfect place to raise their child(ren). Along the way they visit friends on either side of them to see if where their friend's live is the perfect place. You can already guess the end of this movie, which is one of my problems with it, as it is extremely predictable, but it's the honest and down-to-earth performances that give it just the right amount of flair to be a plausible and enjoyable film experience. In fact, my hats off to Maggie Gyllenhaal, who gives the best performance in this movie, her character is effen crazy.

With all that said, I guess the only negative thing I can say here is that, besides being predicable, I'm not really in tune with the whole "let's go indie" movement that more serious director's seem to be taking with their films these days. I get that indie films are popular...yes, but that's not a good enough reason for a well established director to take a step back. A good film, but doesn't reach the amount of greatness that I expect from a Sam Mendes film.