The Way Way Back...Meatballs With a Water Slide

I mean that in a good way.  I'll 'splain.

Meatballs was directed by Ivan Reitman in the 70s.  It starred a young Bill Murray as Tripper Harrison, the senior camp counselor at Camp North Star, a low rate summer camp.  He's irreverent, anti-authoritarian and unconventional.  He ends up befriending Rudy Gerner, a young talented kid who is a bit of an outsider and initially lacks in the confidence arena.  Through Tripper's friendship, he is able to come out of his shell and get the most out of his camp experience.

That is a scenario that can be used as a framework for many stories, especially those that take place in American culture and that zone so magical for the young uns, the summer break, when you have all that free time, sun, girls (especially swimwear clad ones), no responsibility and plenty of occasions for adventure and tomfoolery.

Unless you get dragged to someplace you don't know, forced to interact with people you don't care for and are generally miserable and would much rather be left alone.

This is the scenario now for Duncan, the young hero here.  He is the child of a single mom and her current beau (Steve Carrell), frankly, is a big of a jerk right from the get-go.  In fact, the people he is surrounded with in the first twenty minutes of the film are so unpleasant and annoying, I almost turned off the movie.  But stick with The Way, Way Back. It gets much better.

Almost out of a need for preserving his sanity, Duncan finds a rather girly bicycle and goes riding.  It gets him what he needs, that is, a certain independence and ability to break away from the madhouse of people he doesn't want to deal with.  And one day, in front of a classic Pac-Man machine, he meets Owen (Sam Rockwell), a fast talking irreverent sort who turns out to be the manager of a local water park.  Owen takes a liking to the kid and sensing he needs a friend as well as something to so during his summer, offers him a job at the park.  Duncan takes it and his summer gets much, much better.  He even meets a girl, gets some friends and helps his mother break from what looked like a collision course with an established pattern.

Yeah, I opened up comparing it to Meatballs, and yes, the basic structure is similar.  However, though fun, The Way Way Back is a bit more serious in tone and makes even more of a statement about one's personal journey and how those accompany it color said journey, for good or ill.  Choose your traveling companions wisely.

By the way, this one was written and directed by the folks from the TV show Community, which I still need to watch.  But based on what I've seen, expect lots of 80s nostalgia and geek culture touchstones here. 

You will recognize them.