''Away We Go'' is a 2009 American

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

directed by

Sam Mendes Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes (born 1 August 1965) is a British film and stage director, producer, and screenwriter. In 2000, Mendes was appointed a CBE for his services to drama, and he was knighted in the 2020 New Years Honours List. That s ...

and written by

Dave Eggers Dave Eggers (born March 12, 1970) is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He wrote the 2000 best-selling memoir ''A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius''. Eggers is also the founder of ''Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'', a lite ...

and

Vendela Vida Vendela Vida (born September 6, 1971) is an American novelist, journalist, editor, screenplay writer, and educator. She is the author of multiple books, has worked as a writing teacher, and is a founder and editor of ''The Believer'' magazine. ...

. The film's two leads are

John Krasinski John Burke Krasinski (; born October 20, 1979) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his role as Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom ''The Office''. He also served as a producer and occasional director of the series throughout its nin ...

and

Maya Rudolph Maya Rudolph (born July 27, 1972) is an American actress, comedian, and singer. In 2000, she became a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''), and later played supporting roles in the films ''50 First Dates'' ...

. It is Mendes's first film without Thomas Newman's collaboration.

Plot

Verona De Tessant (

) and Burt Farlander (

), are in their early thirties in the

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

area and struggling to meet daily needs and build fulfilling lives. Learning they will soon become parents, they are confronted with the challenge of how – and where – to raise a child and build a happy family. Six months into Verona's pregnancy, they visit their only family in the area, Burt's parents, Gloria and Jerry (

Catherine O'Hara Catherine Anne O'Hara (born March 4, 1954) is a Canadian-American actress. She is known for her comedy work on ''Second City Television'' (1976–84) and ''Schitt's Creek'' (2015–2020) and in films such as '' After Hours'' (1985), '' Beetlej ...

and

Jeff Daniels Jeffrey Warren Daniels (born February 19, 1955) is an American actor, comedian, musician, and playwright, known for his work on stage and screen playing diverse characters switching between comedy and drama. He is the recipient of several accol ...

), only to find that they have decided to move to

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, Belgium, a month before the baby is due. They will be gone for two years and they have already rented their place to another couple, despite Burt's and Verona's situation. Frustrated with their selfishness and careless attitude, Burt and Verona decide this is an opportunity to find somewhere else to raise their family, as they both can work from home and live wherever they choose. They first visit

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

, to see Verona's old boss, Lily ( Allison Janney), her husband, Lowell ( Jim Gaffigan), and their two children. Burt in particular is disturbed by Lily and Lowell's crass and mean-spirited behavior toward one another and their children. Burt and Verona next visit Verona's sister, Grace ( Carmen Ejogo), in Tucson. Verona urges Burt to try to persuade Grace to stay with her boring boyfriend. When Burt takes a call and displays his trademark humor, Grace tells Verona that she is lucky to have him and Verona agrees. They next visit Burt's childhood friend and pseudo-cousin in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th ...

, "LN" (pronounced "ellen") (

Maggie Gyllenhaal Margalit Ruth "Maggie" Gyllenhaal (; born November 16, 1977) is an American actress and filmmaker. Part of the Gyllenhaal family, she is the daughter of filmmakers Stephen Gyllenhaal and Naomi Achs, and the older sister of actor Jake Gyllenh ...

), a college professor at the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

with inherited money and radical views about parenting. They bring a stroller as a gift, greatly angering LN as she and her husband Roderick's ( Josh Hamilton) is a " continuum home." When Roderick's condescension and LN's backhanded compliments to Verona get to be too much for Burt, he tells them they are horrible people and he and Verona leave but not before taking their son on a wild stroller ride through the house (which he enjoys). Burt and Verona then visit old college friends in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

, Tom ( Chris Messina) and his wife, Munch Garnett ( Melanie Lynskey), and their diverse family of adopted children. Verona and Burt are happy to have found a loving family and a nice town, deciding to move to Montreal. When they all go to dinner, Burt admits he has proposed to Verona many times, but she always refuses (this stems from anguish over her dead parents' inevitable absence from the wedding). After dinner, Tom tells Burt that Munch has recently suffered her fifth

miscarriage Miscarriage, also known in medical terms as a spontaneous abortion and pregnancy loss, is the death of an embryo or fetus before it is able to survive independently. Miscarriage before 6 weeks of gestation is defined by ESHRE as biochemica ...

and that they seem unable to have biological children. In the morning, Burt receives an emergency call from his brother, Courtney ( Paul Schneider), in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, whose wife has left him. Burt and Verona fly to Miami, where Courtney worries about his young daughter and the potential effects of a divorce on her. Burt tries to comfort Courtney while Verona spends time with his daughter. Burt and Verona spend the night outside on a trampoline, promising to love each other and their daughter and have a happy home. The next day, Verona tells Burt a story about her childhood house and her parents (who were both killed in a car crash when she was 22). Moved by her memory, they decide to settle in Verona's old family home on the

Florida Panhandle The Florida Panhandle (also West Florida and Northwest Florida) is the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Florida; it is a salient roughly long and wide, lying between Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia on the north, and the ...

. Realizing it is the place for them, they sit together happily, overlooking the water.

Cast

as Burt Farlander *

as Verona De Tessant * Carmen Ejogo as Grace De Tessant *

as Jerry Farlander *

as Gloria Farlander * Allison Janney as Lily * Jim Gaffigan as Lowell *

as LN * Josh Hamilton as Roderick * Melanie Lynskey as Munch Garnett * Chris Messina as Tom Garnett * Paul Schneider as Courtney Farlander

Release

''Away We Go'' had a limited theater release in the United States starting June 25, 2009. It opened the 2009

Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) is a film festival that runs for two weeks in June each year. Established in 1947, it is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all ti ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on September 29, 2009.

Critical reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film has an approval rating of 67% based on 187 reviews, with an average rating of 6.57 out of 10. The critical consensus reads, "Built on a set of quirks and charms that are as noticeable as they are interchangeable, ''Away We Go'' is a sweet but uneven road trip". A. O. Scott of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' described the two main characters as self-righteous people "aware of their special status as uniquely sensitive, caring, smart and cool beings on a planet full of cretins and failures". In response to reviews "accusing Verona and Burt of being smug, superior and condescending,"

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

said that "these are not sins if you have something to be smug about and much reason to condescend."Ebert, Roger (June 10, 2009)
"Away We Go"
RogerEbert.com Retrieved April 17, 2017. He gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars.

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

reported the film had an average score of 58 out of 100, based on 33 reviews.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of ''Away We Go'' was released on June 2, 2009, and primarily features songs from singer/songwriter Alexi Murdoch, instead of an original

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to e ...

. (All songs by Alexi Murdoch except where noted) # "All My Days" (4:57) # " Orange Sky" (6:18) # "Blue Mind" (5:45) # "Song for You" (4:38) # "Breathe" (4:18) # "Towards the Sun" (4:40) # "

Meet Me in the Morning "Meet Me in the Morning" is a blues song written by Bob Dylan, recorded in New York City on September 16, 1974, and released on his 15th studio album, ''Blood on the Tracks'', in 1975. Composition and recording "Meet Me in the Morning" is an ac ...

" by

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

(4:21) # " What Is Life" by

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

(4:24) # " Golden Brown" by The Stranglers (3:30) # "Wait" (5:59) # "Oh! Sweet Nuthin'" by

The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. The original line-up consisted of singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. MacLise ...

(7:28) # "The Ragged Sea" (3:19) # "Crinan Wood" (5:45) "All My Days" was featured in the film's trailer.

References

External links

* * {{Sam Mendes 2009 films 2000s road comedy-drama films American road comedy-drama films Big Beach (company) films Films about dysfunctional families Films directed by Sam Mendes Films set in Miami Films set in Montreal Films set in Phoenix, Arizona Films set in Tucson, Arizona Films set in Madison, Wisconsin Films shot in Colorado Films shot in Connecticut Films shot in Florida American pregnancy films Films with screenplays by Dave Eggers Films about parenting 2000s English-language films 2000s American films