Away We Go (Sam Mendes, 2009)

Evidence that sometimes the people responsible for the trailer should be allowed to re-cut the movie, every joke and edit work far better in the preview than they do in the actual film. Away We Go simply proves director Sam Mendes has no sense of humor… and no touch for it. It's also one of the worst written films I've ever seen. Ever. Everything is written in capital letters, with the quirk ramped up to 11 and its Juno-envy in prominent display. But this film is nothing like Juno, it never provides us with the characters or heart that film had. The ridiculously simplistic story is that Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph) are taken aback when Burt's parents decide to move to Belgium a mere month before their child is due. Having no life to call their own (they apparently lived for no other reason than to provide a grandchild for Burt's parents); they go out on a cross-country expedition to find a new place to live. But each scene is the same as the one before it, with Burt and Verona encountering a new eccentric couple at every stop (everything about this film is written to remind you it’s eccentric). No, it's not enough that Verona has a strong heart-to-heart with her sister, she has to do it in a bathtub in the middle of a showroom. It's not enough that Maggie Gyllenhaal's character requires you to remove your shoes and wear slippers… they have to look like a court jester would have objected to them. Or that Jeff Daniel's character bought a strange statue, it's gotta cost him $10,000.00 and he should also make an ass of himself trying to explain why he bought it. Also, Burt and Verona are such fake, constructed characters they never appear to be real people. They have no purpose, no heartbeat. Mendes thinks it's simply enough to point his camera at some eccentrically dressed characters and it's funny because Burt is stretching and wearing funny clothes and - look! - he stumbled and fell down! Revolutionary Road had just as many laughs.