Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Verona and Burt have moved to Colorado to be close to Burt's parents but, with Verona expecting their first child, Burt's parents inexplicably decide to move to Belgium, now leaving them in a place they hate and without a support structure in place. They set off on a whirlwind tour of of disparate locations where they have friends or relatives, sampling not only different cities and climates but also different families. Along the way they realize that the journey is less about discovering where they want to live and more about figuring out what type of parents they want to be.
Away We Go is a warmly observed indie dramedy that benefits from Sam Mendes's clean direction and two grounded lead performances from John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph. The episodic road-trip structure — visiting a gallery of exaggerated parenting archetypes — gives the film gentle comic momentum but also exposes its thin plotting; the satirical portraits of alternative family styles (the overbearing, the free-spirited, the broken) feel more like sketches than full scenes. Cinematography is competent and quietly appealing without being distinctive. The film has a pleasant, specific voice — the Dave Eggers/Vendela Vida screenplay gives it literary self-awareness — but it doesn't fully transcend its quirky indie-couple-finds-themselves template. The ending, a retreat to a beach house with easy emotional resolution, feels underearned given the journey's complexity, landing softly rather than resonantly.