I saw this movie for Sam Rockwell and loved him, but overall I was not enamored. I found the storytelling a bit lazy (Really? Two overheard/random discoveries by the main character at just the right time?) and also I didn’t buy the fact that Steve Carell’s character could be that much of a jerk to the kid and his mom would put up with it. That said, it’s not a bad movie, and it’s full of a stellar cast, so there are worse ways you could spend your time.*
poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2013/way_way_back.html
*Also: one of my favorite things about the movie was that–with one exception–I felt that both the teenage girls and women acting in this movie had normal bodies. The lack of overly-starved and unnatural skinny Minnies was quite refreshing.
I've been wanting to see this because of the boozy and slightly uncomfortable role that Allison Janney plays. We talked about seeing this, many times. But we never quite got to it.
I like what you said to me in your letter about how this is more of a movie for men than for women. I thought that was an astute assessment! Loved Sam Rockwell and Allison Janney in this though. And you're right about normal-looking women. It was refreshing!