16. The Way Way Back
It turns out I am a sucker for coming-of-age films, and this one is no different. The Way Way Back is written and directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, who also wrote (another you should definitely watch), The Descendants.
The Way Way Back has ended up being my ultimate summer film. This film has ended up being an alternate life for me, in which I work at a waterpark for the duration of the summer and hang out with some of the coolest people on the planet.
Which is what fourteen-year-old Duncan (Liam James) ultimately does in this movie. Duncan is dragged on a summer vacation to Cape Cod, Massachusetts with his mother, Pam (Toni Collette) and her new boyfriend Trent (Steve Carrell) and his daughter. They stay at Trent’s beach house, and Trent and Duncan do not get on. At all. Which is one of (if not) the main reasons why Duncan doesn’t want to be on this ‘vacation’. Duncan eventually bumps into some employees of the local waterpark – Water Wizz – where the manager, Owen (Sam Rockwell), hires Duncan for some odd jobs around the park and ultimately takes him under his wing.
The Way Way Back not only gives me my alternate teenagehood, but also someone to relate to through Duncan in thinking that they’re not good enough to be of worth to anything or anyone. But when you find the right group of people who treat you right and elevate you, you can finally become the person you are inside and be happy with yourself and your life. Which is what this films strives with, along with the pure feeling of summer that it gives off throughout.
Words by Sophie McEvoy