The Way, Way Back

            The 80's are back, as in The Way Way Back, a coming of age film that plays coyly with the decade that mastered the genre.  The opening scenes, which involve the far back seat of a 70's era station wagon (think That 70's Show) and 80's era music (REO Speedwagon, Mr. Mister) could make you think this was a period piece.  Indeed the adults are stuck in the 80's, developmentally at least, and the fine cast of adults (Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney) bring out both the pain and narcissism of unresolved teenage angst as they live in denial and fear of middle age.  Their immaturity torments Duncan (Liam James), a nerdy and alienated 14 year old forced to endure a summer with his mom, her new boyfriend, and the boyfriend’s aloof daughter in a New England beach town.  Duncan finds a friend and mentor in Owen, the 30-something manager of a nearby water park played by Sam Rockwell, and their relationship forms the centerpiece of the film.  Sure, they are so imitative of the Chris Makepeace - Bill Murray relationship in Meatballs that the latter should sue for royalties, but they make it work.  AnnaSophia Robb, now an acting veteran, is largely wasted in the role of Duncan’s would-be love interest next door, and a better film would have been more Lucas and less Meatballs.  Nothing in The Way Way Back advances the coming-of-age genre, but the writing is snappy, the acting is first-rate, and – hey – every generation needs its own film canon of its adolescence.  For this purpose, The Way Way Back serves quite well.  3.0/4.0 stars.