movie review: away we go

It's hard to tell yet, but I think I might have loved it. Sam Mendes has cranked out another awesome movie (see American Beauty and Revolutionary Road).

John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph are a magic match as a couple who, upon finding out they're pregnant, embark on a journey across America to find a suitable home for starting a new life with their first child. They bee-bop from city to city, meeting up with friends and family and family-friends, all of whom teach them their own personal slice about raising children, building a home, and staying in love.

The look of this movie is beautiful and fresh. Whether they're stopping on the side of the road next to an endless green field or sitting on a trampoline in a brother's backyard late at night, the two lovers travel among natural beauty, with the enchanting music of Alexi Murdoch humming in the background all along the way.

I was very skeptical about John and Maya "working" as a couple on screen...I couldn't see it. I thought, "She's funny, and he's funny, and they're both very different kinds of funny...and how's that going to work?" But I was honestly and pleasantly surprised! They both retained their funny personas, but each played totally unique and original characters. By this I mean Jim Halpert is not in this movie, and neither is Donatella Versace (Get ouuuut!). I love John's character, Burt. He is so caring of his girlfriend and innocently optimistic and curious. It is just cute. And Maya, who I've never seen act except as an SNL funny-woman, is so quietly and sensibly witty as Verona. It is easy to watch them together. Along with these two are a string of actors that I always seem to enjoy. Maggie Gyllenhaal is hilariously annoying, and Allison Janney can do no wrong. Chris Messina and Paul Schneider also add a lot as two loving, but distraught, father figures.

This film is warm. It's an authentic look at two people who are in love, a steady, committed love, who don't have it all figured out, but are discovering it all together. They question the past and are anxious about the future. It's warm because we can relate to that. The conflict is simply...life.