Away We Go

Away We Go

Director: Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Jarhead)

Starring: John Krasinski (Jim from The Office) & Maya Rudolph (from Saturday Night Live) with cameos from Jeff Daniels, Jim Gaffigan, and Maggie Gyllenhaal

MPAA: Rated R for language and some sexual content.

Juno and Reign Over Me meet The Office in this brilliant and sweet romantic journey. I laughed my head off and I was also touched by the delicate and sweet moments in this film. Away We Go is a delicious meal; the kind of movie the Flicks-a-saurus Rex can dig into and savor its succulence. I am not going to lie this film is not for everyone, it has a slow feel to it that makes some people wonder what is going on, what is the point of the film.

Away We Go is directed by Academy Award winner Sam Mendes (Best Director American Beauty), and some of that realism he uses in American Beauty and Road to Perdition comes out in Away We Go. There are long scenes of dialogue that feel so realistic it could be you and your wife there speaking to each other.

John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph are 30-something-year-olds who haven’t really started life. They are living together just getting by when the surprise of a life time comes, she’s pregnant. So they take a long vacation across the USA to find out where they are going to live and raise their child. The hook up with old friends and family and see different family types; families in pain and families so awkward I just had to cringe in my chair. There is a little bit of an emotional roller coaster as we are taken from city to city and see the different people and life events that are faced. It is funny, sad, and wonderful.



Krasinski and Rudolph are hilarious in a sarcastic and sometimes brooding fashion. This isn’t Jim from The Office on the screen; it is a nerdy guy who is not very sure of himself. Their relationship is so much more believable because it is not a frill Hollywood romance that happens with a glance, this is a relationship that is portrayed with real ups and downs and real love. It was so refreshing to see a love story that was not about selfish sexual desires; instead it was about two people trying to do what’s best for their family.

There really are some awkward scenes in Away We Go. Kind of like the style of dialogue in Juno or Reign Over Me, where people pause more and create dialogue with silence. Films are trending towards this style anyways and I really enjoy it. There are also some slap stick comedy parts, but it takes a little while to really get into the film. I loved it, and give it a 9 out of 10 easily. I wouldn’t change a thing about it. The acting is great, the plot well thought out and well put together, and the script is hilarious.


Sex/Nudity – 7 out of 10 - No nudity, but we do see a woman breast feeding two of her children at the same time and we can kind of see the side of one breast. There is a lot of sexual discussion throughout the film. Some of it is a little edgy but most of it is done in an adult context. There is one scene in a Karaoke strip club and we see one man without a shirt on dancing. A woman comes out and does a dance around a stripper pole but she is clothed and it is a very sad dance, not at all sexually arousing. Then two more women come out on stage and the scene turns away from the stage. A man and a woman are seen kissing in bed and he moves under the covers presumably to have oral sex, she moans a little bit and then they proceed to talk about her vaginal flavor. All you see is her head at the top of the bed talking to his head under the blanket.

Violence/Gore – 0 – no violence, no gore … a little slapstick humor when a man falls down.

Profanity – 7 out of 10 – A lot of sexual references and 10 to 15 “F” words. 3 or 4 uses of the really bad “C” word and various uses of other swear words as well.