The Way, Way Back | 3.5/5

SINGAPORE — One of the pleasures of watching The Way, Way Back is the simple fact that we don’t get many gentle indie films coming our way these days. And by that I mean small, whimsical, personal films — not cheaply made horror flicks featuring ghosts caught on camera.

Watching The Way, Way Back is an almost nostalgic experience, not just because of its palpable retro fetish, but for the way it makes you long for the golden period of Sundance goodness.

That hunger for indie flavour also means one might be willing to overlook the film’s flaws. This directorial debut from the writers of The Descendants has one too many loose story threads and lacks a certain exuberance for its coming-of-age genre. But it’s so easy to forgive a film this likeable.

Duncan (adorkable — sometimes a little too intentionally so — newcomer Liam James) is an awkward, shy, hurting 14-year-old dweeb, dragged along by his well-meaning but absent single mom (Toni Collette) on a summer vacation at the beach house of her cruel new boyfriend (Steve Carrell) and his vapid teenage daughter. To escape the inappropriate, badly behaved company of grown-ups in a booze and pot frenzy (it’s like spring break for adults, one character offers), Duncan secretly accepts a job at an ’80s-cheesetastic water amusement park, where he is taken under the wing of man-child manager Owen (Sam Rockwell), who has some growing up of his own to do. Personal growth ensues.

If it sounds like you’ve seen this movie in some shape or form before, it’s because you have. The Way, Way Back’s coming-of-age tale set over one hot summer is pretty much to the world of indie cinema what creaking doors and dodgy electrical wiring are to haunted house films. I choose to look at it as participating in a time-honoured tradition more than lazily following a stock template. Everyone’s had a burger — what matters is how it’s cooked up. And The Way, Way Back serves up a satisfying bite.

The script from writers/directors Jim Nash and Nat Faxon is often amiably amusing but rarely tips over into being terribly funny. Its cast of reliably affable actors, however, elevate the film into a category above its fighting weight. Collete, likeable as ever, is in her frazzled comfort zone, while Carrell nicely steps out of his into irredeemably douche-y territory.

But it’s the ridiculously charming Rockwell, in full-throttle Indie God mode, who carries the entire film on his rascally shoulders, providing the heart, soul and silliness the entire film springs from. Add to that a beautifully inebriated performance from the fabulous Allison Janney as the recently off-the-wagon neighbour, and you’ve got yourself a blissful ride back to an era of off-kilter indie sensibilities.

The Way, Way Back isn’t quite a modern classic, but it is a charming reminder of how we need much more than just zombies, vampires, robots, superheroes, teenage warrior princesses and greedy franchise sequels in the cinemas.

(PG13, 104 min)