The Way Way Back (2013)
Coming of age comedy/drama written and directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash. Dragged on holiday by his mum and her overbearing boyfriend, introverted teenager Duncan comes out of his shell when he's offered a job by the free spirited manager of the local waterslide park.
Liam James, himself a teenager at the time, leads the film with remarkable ease, backed up by one heck of a supporting cast, including: Toni Colette as his mother, trying desperately to mask her anxieties; Steve Carell, playing very effectively against type as her suburban alpha douche boyfriend; Alison Janney, as their amusingly blunt neighbour; Amanda Peet and Rob Corddry as family friends; Faxon, Rash and Maya Rudolph as employees at the water park. Anna Sophia Robb fills the love interest role, but is more than a prize to reward Duncan's emotional arc. But it's Sam Rockwell who steals his every scene, as the militantly fun-loving park manager, with whom Duncan forms a brotherly attachment.
Set in the present day, but consciously harking back to the 80s (Duncan listening to music on his phone, instead of a Walkman, is about the only signifier of the era) the film is nothing we haven't seen in others of this type. I suppose there might be some novelty to the amount of focus it gives the adult characters. The rest of the park staff are conspicuously middle aged and Rudolph gets some poignant laments about still working there at their age and being forced to be the only responsible one among them. It also feels more grounded and real than the Likes of Caddyshack, with even Rockwell, at his Rockwelliest (yes, he does a little dance) remaining believable, rather than a cartoon character made flesh.
