Last weekend Mumbles and I watched the movie The Way, Way Back.  I faintly recalled an interview on Kevin & Bean with Steve Carrell saying how he really enjoyed his part in the movie playing a total jerk. Other than that and the 85% Rotten Tomatoes rating in the info credits (so handy!), we had absolutely no idea what the movie would be about.  And it’s description wasn’t very enticing either:

Shy 14-year-old Duncan goes on summer vacation with his mother, her overbearing boyfriend, and her boyfriend’s daughter. Having a rough time fitting in, Duncan finds an unexpected friend in Owen, manager of the Water Wizz water park.

So anyway, we start watching and all of a sudden, Mumbles and I realize that this movie is fantastic and we’re totally enthralled – laughing and getting completely caught up in the story.  We both were a bit sad when it ended because we enjoyed it so much.

It was funny for us to enjoy the ensemble of actors in roles you wouldn’t expect but it was cast really well.  It’s hard to not like Steve Carrell but boy is he good at playing an oblivious a-hole.  Mumbles realized about a quarter of the way into it that the mom is “the same lady from [now-cancelled, no shocker] Hostages [man, we gotta stop watching shows like that…always getting cancelled with no resolution! ugh!].  I only recognized Sam Rockwell as the bad guy in one of the Charlie’s Angels movies…ha!  But we both were like “oh, hey, that guy…” to Nat Faxon who we knew from the cancelled Ben & Kate sitcom. A little more digging revealed that Faxon was one of the directors and writers with (the principal from Community!) Jim Rash.  Other faces you’ll know include Anna Sophia Robb (The Carrie Diaries), Amanda Peet, Rob Corddry (“you know why!” — quick, name that movie!), Maya Rudolph, and Allison Janney who is awesomely hilarious in this one.

I can’t recall the last time I’ve been so satisfied after watching a movie.  Really, really good, you guys.  Watch it.  Thank me later.

[photo via]