Away We Go vs The Road To Perdition

I’ve got sort of a love/hate relationship with chatty movie slackers. Hate, because: ugh, shut up, you chatty slackers. Love, because I’m the chattiest slacker of them all. So yeah, sometimes it’s hate/hate, obviously.

Away We Go has a unique, energetic cast, two appealing leads, a screenplay by one of my favorite writers, David Eggers, and direction by Sam Mendes, who may or may not have hidden the script from his wife, Kate Winslet. On paper, it’s basically all I want from a movie. In reality, the tone is all over the place, with some characters sincere and believable, and others mugging hard for sitcom-style laughs. And as if the broader characters weren’t noticeable on their own, we get the sincere ones pointing them out and judging them. 

John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph are Burt and Verona, respectively. Besides having names that sound very “Okay guys, brainstorm: what should their names be?” Burt and Verona are happily, if tentatively, expecting a baby. They're both nervous and filled with doubt about their future as parents. "Are we fuck-ups?" Verona asks. They feel like it, since they've waited to start a family in their thirties, but didn't get rich or famous (or whatever dreams failures pine for. Mine include a car built in this decade, a room for my comics that doesn't also include a bed, and a person trainer who wants to do stuff like ride bikes and play four-square.). The thing is, Burt and Verona have kind of a junky house, and he could use a haircut, but otherwise they’re doing okay. They’ve got good enough jobs (he sells insurance; she works as what appears to be an illustrator for medical textbooks). They’re in love, share a common philosophy and sense of humor and are cute in a real-life rather than movie-friendly way. If they were real, you’d probably want to be their friend. And yet, they feel aimless, unfulfilled and lonely. They visit Burt’s parents (Catherine O’Hara and Jeff Daniels), and are left more disillusioned than ever. Burt’s parents are selfish and wacky in a way you normally see in, say, Ben Stiller movies. O’Hara and Daniels are great, but Burt and Verona barely seem to know them, don’t seem comfortable in their house, and aren’t breathing, thinking or speaking at the same speed. With the grandparents out of the picture (Burt’s parents are moving out of the country, Verona’s are dead), Burt and Verona realize they can live anywhere they like, and venture out to find the perfect place near someone they know.

They don’t know enough people. The first choice is one of Verona’s former coworkers, played by Allison Janney. Listen, Allison Janney is one of the best character actors working today. And in Away We Go, she borders on sublime. I loved her. I wanted an entire movie of her. A different movie. Janney’s Lily is loud, obnoxious, drunk, funny and a terrible parent. But it makes no sense whatsoever that Verona would ever want to see her again. Lily is awful, and not someone you’d ever want for a neighbor, coworker or friend. And they drove cross-country to see her? The same thing happens later when Burt and Verona meet up with Maggie Gylenhaal as a new-agey college professor. Gylenhaal, like Janney, gives a fine, funny performance, but if the entire movie rests on Burt and Verona traveling to find love for their family, why are they picking people they barely know, don’t like, don’t want influencing their child? 

There are a few saving graces. Carmen Ejogo plays Verona’s sister. They share a scene in a furniture store bathtub that is equal parts sweet and devastating. It makes all the sense in the world that Verona and Burt would want to live near her sister, but they’re gone almost immediately. The same thing happens when they stay with Burt’s brother, played by the invaluable Paul Schneider. Like Greg Kinnear, Schneider refuses to do a bad job, regardless of content. Schneider is always good, because they don’t hire him to be bad. Few actors portray embarrassment or frustrations as subtly. The implication of Schneider’s scene is especially troubling: he’s heartbroken because his wife has left him alone to raise their daughter. He’s not needy or breaking down or even seeking any approval from Burt or Verona. He seems like he’d just like a friend. So why don’t they live there and make their family even bigger? Give their daughter a cousin and an uncle nearby? Are Burt and Verona secretly jerks? Let’s examine that brother again. He’s a nice guy, he and Burt get along, he’s sweet to Verona, he’s a good dad, so, of course: nope. Away we go! 

And yes, I’m aware I’m being cynical. I’m a cynical, chatty slacker. I’m criticizing Away We Go for having…extra laughs? My criticism of it lies more in that idea that Burt and Verona are on an emotional search, and that they want, more than anything else, a home with love and support. And each of the places they visit is beneath them in some way. It’s like Burt and Verona have forgotten that a portion of that love and support has to come, you know, from them. And so, in those moments of sitcom wackiness, Away We Go reveals Burt and Verona as sort of self-centered, and also takes a few hits every time it tries for more sincerity and truth. Especially damaged is a scene with Melanie Lynskey as a sad mother of four adopted kids, doing a fully-clothed pole dance, dazed and drained by a recent miscarriage. Lynskey plays the scene well, but it’s so over-the-top with meaning, I kept waiting for a punchline, or a wink, or anything to take the wind out a bit. Nope. I found myself wishing the Allison Janney character would pop in and heckle her a little. 

I liked John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph as Burt and Verona. At certain points during the movie, I thought maybe Krasinksi was mugging a little much, but the more I think about it, I realize Burt was the one mugging, trying to keep things light, trying to make Verona smile, which is pretty sweet. And Maya Rudolph is so warm and smart in Away We Go, that despite any reservations I have about it, I’d watch it again right now just for her performance. I’m hoping this makes her a star, and that Away We Go is just the beginning of a series of great Maya Rudolph roles. She’s got the final line of the movie, and gives just the right spin. She’s somehow simultaneously forlorn and enthusiastic, much as I was during Away We Go.

This is director Sam Mendes second road movie. His first was more compelling, better acted, shot and scripted. Also, it’s got a body-count, something I was longing for during certain scenes of Away We Go. The Road to Perdition is a dark, peculiar movie. It’s got one of the last great Paul Newman performances, one of the best roles played by Tom Hanks in the past decade, and in Jude Law, the creepiest, ugliest villain no one talks about. Either no one remembers it, or Law is so unrecognizable it’s been chalked up to some taken-for-granted character actor weirdness. Law is downright menacing in The Road to Perdition, and if the movie were otherwise worthless (it’s not), you’d be well-served to watch just on the basis of his performance.

Tom Hanks plays Michael Sullivan, a good husband (to Jennifer Jason Leigh, who always looks so good in period films, but doesn’t get to do much here) and father to two young boys. He’s also a son, of sorts, to a mob boss John Rooney, played by Paul Newman. Rooney’s real son (Daniel Craig) makes a sloppy mistake, with Michael’s son, Michael Jr. as a witness. Michael’s wife and youngest son are killed, leaving him and Michael Jr. on the run from a contract killer (Law). 

The Road to Perdition is a cold film, both literally and figuratively. All the characters are weighed down by coats, hats, umbrellas, guilt, you name it. Like Se7en, The Road to Perdition takes place mostly on rainy nights. As the Sullivans travel cross-country, we know the ending is going to be tragic. Being played by Tom Hanks isn’t going to save Michael Sullivan, but it might guarantee that he not die without first showing some goodness. Hanks plays Sullivan as orderly, loyal, intelligent, but also grateful to Rooney to the point of being subservient. He’s trying to be a role model to his son, but there are some hard truths the boy’s going to learn that center mainly on Dad’s failings. Like Burt and Verona, Michael wants to find a place to raise his son to be a happy, productive adult. He knows better though, than to search for a home near someone he knows. If Burt and Verona had that advice, they could have saved some gas money.

Away We Go: B-

The Road to Perdition: A-