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Away We Go
Mixed or average reviews
Based on 33 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 41 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy | Drama
Written by:
Dave Eggers
Vendela Vida
Directed by: Sam Mendes
Release Date:
Theatrical: June 5, 2009
DVD: September 29, 2009
Running Time: 97 minutes, Color
Origin: USA | UK
Summary
RATING: R for language and some sexual content
Starring John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Jeff Daniels, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Allison Janney, Chris Messina, Catherine O’Hara, and Paul Schneider
Longtime (and now thirtysomething) couple Burt and Verona are going to have a baby. The pregnancy progresses smoothly, but six months in, the pair is put off and put out by the cavalierly delivered news from Burt’s parents Jerry and Gloria that the eccentric elder Farlanders are moving out of Colorado – thereby eliminating the expectant couple’s main reason for living there. So, where, and among whom of those closest to them, might Burt and Verona best put down roots to raise their impending bundle of joy? The couple embarks on an ambitious itinerary to visit friends and family, and to evaluate cities. (Focus Features)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
TV Guide Perry Seibert
Like "Juno" or "Little Miss Sunshine," Away We Go is a small film, the kind of gem that's easy to crush with hype or overpraise. But, the fact is that few movies deal with feelings this profound with as much restraint as Mendes and his crew display here.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Burt and Verona are two characters rarely seen in the movies: thirtysomething, educated, healthy, self-employed, gentle, thoughtful, whimsical, not neurotic and really truly in love.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Rudolph, a comic force on "SNL," can speak volumes with the tilt of an eyebrow. She and Krasinski, of "The Office," are absolutely extraordinary. Ditto the film, which sneaks up and floors you.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Though Away We Go lacks the screwball unpredictability of something like "Flirting With Disaster," it compensates with a unexpected depth of feeling, a novelist’s (or memoirist’s) sense of detail, and a panoramic view of what home means.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker David Denby
Some of the episodes are ripely satirical, others almost heartbreaking. Allison Janney appears as a coarse drunk who taunts her kids; Maggie Gyllenhaal is a pushy New Age mom whose aggressive virtue saps the strength of everyone around her.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader J.R. Jones
The episodic structure works to the movie's benefit, highlighting the eccentric supporting characters and allowing Mendes to smoothly downshift from hilarity to sadness.
Read Full Review >Empire Olly Richards
While cynics may find it twee, Mendes fans should greatly enjoy this (gently) surprising change of direction. Go in with the right frame of mind and you’ll leave with a big, goofy grin on your face.
Read Full Review >New Orleans Times-Picayune Mike Scott
A heartwarming -- and at times heartbreaking -- post-"Juno" road comedy for grownups.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Some episodes are funnier than others, but they're all underscored by a pervasive melancholy.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
The unassuming performances by Krasinski and Rudolph help make this the first Mendes movie that feels lived-in rather than staged.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
There's something genuinely exploratory and original here in the depiction of people being pushed into adulthood before they're ready.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
Away We Go is not as dramatically wrenching as "Revolutionary Road," but it's unquestionably more enjoyable.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Rick Kisonak
The odyssey that follows reminded me of the one Bill Murray’s character took in "Broken Flowers" - and I mean that in the most complimentary way.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
A gilded entry in the cinema du quirk. It's a movie that invites you, all too often, to feel superior to the people on screen.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer
The film's one extraordinary aspect, which makes it well worth seeing despite its carefully coiffed shagginess, is Maya Rudolph's performance.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Wesley Morris
In tone and plotting, Away We Go feels like a fairy tale built on an aggravating collection of attitudes. It's condescending, judgmental, righteous, yet sincerely searching.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Maya Rudolph's subtle, lyrical portrait of a patient wife and expectant mother enlivens and elevates Away We Go, an erratic couple-on-a-quest film.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
A self-satisfied film about insecure people, a quirky and episodic comic drama that squanders its genuine assets and ends up not as special as it tries to be.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman
If we learn anything from Away We Go, it’s that a lack of ambition might not be such a bad thing after all.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
Though it's nice to see Mendes take a looser, not quite so studied approach to his filmmaking, some stops along the way -- like a detour to visit Burt's suddenly single brother (Paul Schneider) -- feel dramatically off-course.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
The strange thing about the movie is its idea that such couples are rare flowers. But you can scarcely take a step in Seattle or San Francisco or Los Feliz without meeting them in hordes.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
See it for the performances – they are delights from the leads on down to the characters in the episodic vignettes. But the film’s vision of Gen-Y nesting is liable to leave you up a tree.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
One can almost feel the movie Away We Go might have been, if only we could believe that Verona loves Burt - or understand why Burt loves Verona.
Read Full Review >Slate Dana Stevens
Away We Go is like a disappointing term paper by a promising student.
Read Full Review >The New York Times A.O. Scott
Does it sound as if I hate this movie? Don't be silly. But don't be fooled. This movie does not like you.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek
An exploration of self-absorption that is itself too self-absorbed to be either entertaining or enlightening.
Read Full Review >New York Magazine David Edelstein
Travel--finding the self by escaping the self--is central to the novels of Eggers and Vida, but Mendes knows where he's going before he gets there. And so the subject of Away We Go turns out to be not travel but child-rearing, which is at best well-meaning and anguished and at worst downright monstrous.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Scott Foundas
The road-trippers of Away We Go harbor no discernible ambitions whatsoever, which may make them true to Gen-Y life, but also renders them fatally uninteresting. For all the ground they cover geographically, dramatically their velocity remains zero. Mendes, too, seems to have trouble getting on board with the underachieving set.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
It's in these vignettes that Away We Go begins to feel less like an authentic exploration of identity than a condemnation of the very community the couple pretends to crave. No one, it turns out, is good enough for Burt and Verona.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 6.6 (out of 10) based on 41 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
T S gave it a3:
Insufferable. There is one genuinely funny scene. The rest is tiresomely self-conscious and inert. It never draws you in or makes you care about any of the characters because it is too busy reminding you how preciously, bittersweetly meaningful it all is. Aren't they adorably quirky, and aren't we oh-so-smart for recognizing it and seeing ourselves in them?
Winston L gave it a10:
Krasinski and Rudolph are on my Oscar-watch.
Pete W gave it a4:
Too self-conscious, trendy, and whimsical for normal human beings, but hipsters will love it. Burt's relentless childishness grates after the first 20 minutes (John Krasinksi is really stretching himself by playing an affable, goofy insurance salesman instead of an affable, goofy paper salesman). Verona's inability to get over her parents' death ten years earlier rings false. The supporting characters they visit are all either repulsive caricatures or broken flowers mewling for our sympathy. The obligatory acoustic guitar soundtrack feels like it could've been scored by a computer program. There is no overarching conflict; it's obvious from the start that Burt and Verona are perfect for each other and will probably be fine wherever they wind up (though the ending still manages to feel pat and unearned). A film like this should leave the viewer more inclined to overlook other people's quirks and see the human beings underneath, but Away We Go has nothing but contempt for anyone not as endlessly well-adjusted and mutually devoted as the protagonists.
Brian H gave it a2:
John Krazinski is great but every other aspect of this film underachieves. Could and should have been better.
L E gave it a9:
Absolutely adorable movie! Even my husband referred to it as excellent. Definitely quirky comedy, filled with terrific acting and dialogue.
Arthur F gave it an8:
Really wonderful touching sweet and profound.
Jim H gave it a3:
I think the Salon article got it right: "An exploration of self-absorption that is itself too self-absorbed to be either entertaining or enlightening." This was like an indie movie paint by number, all the way down to "bizarre jobs for main characters" and "questionable wardrobe decisions" or "strangely depressing yet wildly unrealistic bit characters." The gothic strip tease scene might have been the tipping point for me, if the first scenes hadn't already crushed my pre-film morale.
