There are two things that made me want to see this film…. First I heard of it was from the tube poster telling me it was directed by Sam Mendes. Director of one of my favourite films Jarhead (which I’d recently re-watched). The second was viewing the trailer (which made it look good) passing over the fact that the trailer preceded Fish Tank, which was awful, I went in with hopefully high expectations.

When Burt Farlandar – (John Krasinski from The Office: An American Workplace) and his Mrs. Verona – (Maya Rudolph) discover they’re to have a baby, they’re excited about becoming parents for the first time, and about their new family. Burt’s parents unfortunately don’t hold a similar opinion, breaking the news of their imminent move to Belgium just one month before B-day. Upon their recent realisation that they live in a hovel, and with the tether of the newborn’s grandparents cut, they experience the freedom to move anywhere in the US (or Canada), and go on a little road trip to see what they like.

About 20-30 minutes in, as the couple reach their first destination, I realise what’s weird about this movie. There’s no conflict. I mean screenplay wise, of course there’s the fact that they don’t like where they live and need to find somewhere new. There’s also the fact that Maya feels a little down about her life, probably partly because of her pregnancy moods and because she lives in a cardboard house. However both these problems get fixed and answered by the end of the film without much of a problem. They’re a couple, having a baby, but they don’t have one argument. There’s no point where you think they might split up, or you’re worried about their relationship.

The idea of a ‘perfect’ couple is something I can imagine would be thrown out of Hollywood. I can see it doing badly in test screenings, because who would ever believe it?

Believe me it works. Mostly due to the skill of the two leads, especially Krasinski. I liked Ricky Gervais’ ‘The Office’, and when it went to America I, like everyone else, didn’t expect much. But I actually prefer An American Workplace even though the only specific thing that’s better, is Jim/Tim (played by Krasinski). He has a genuine subtlety about trying to make you laugh. Every ‘comedy’ film nowadays features either Vince Vaughn (who I like) or Will Ferrell (who I don’t) or both. It’s lovingly refreshing to see a comedy actor not throwing a frying pan of jokes in your face, whilst dunking your head into a bucked of glass shards with the word ‘funny’ scratched on to them.

I loved Away We Go. For me, it’s just a shame it wasn’t released with the Oscar favourites as it’d be in with a great shot . But I fully admit it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. If you’re not happy with just sweet words, nice pictures and good acting, if you need a little more BANG! for your bucks, if you didn’t like Little Miss Sunshine you probably won’t like Away We Go.

Fabulous soundtrack as well.