Plot
14-year-old Duncan's summer vacation with his mother, her overbearing boyfriend, and his daughter. Having a rough time fitting in, Duncan finds an unexpected friend in Owen, manager of the Water Wizz water park.
Release Year: 2013
Rating: 7.4/10 (1,111 voted)
Director:Nat Faxon
Storyline
14-year-old Duncan's summer vacation with his mother, her overbearing boyfriend, and his daughter. Having a rough time fitting in, Duncan finds an unexpected friend in Owen, manager of the Water Wizz water park.
Writers: ,
Taglines:
A New Comedy From the Studio That Brought You LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE & JUNO
Trivia: Jake Gyllenhaal was considered for the lead role but he dropped out. See more »
Goofs:
The conversation Owen and Duncan have about what initials to enter for the high score on the Pacman arcade game could never happen in real life as Pacman does not allow for initials to be entered for high scores. See more »
User Review
Author:
Rating: 8/10
*Spoilers* *Spoilers* I just watched this film last night at Sundance,
and it's great! Hopefully it doesn't take too long for the film to be
distributed, as I read that the film was purchased by Fox Searchlight
for nearly 10 million. It reminded me a lot of "Adventureland" in its
tone and feel, but it's a little more family-friendly, and it
definitely is a PG-13 movie for those that were wondering.
The film focuses on Liam James character Duncan, a quiet, anti-social
teen dealing with the recent divorce of his parents. His father has
since relocated to San Diego with a younger girlfriend, and despite his
desire to stay with his father for the summer, he ends up having to go
with his mom and her boyfriend to spend the summer at her boyfriend's
beach house. You come to understand that Duncan's mom Pam (Toni
Collette) is aware of her boyfriend Trent's (Steve Carrell) wandering
eye, but she is enamored by his charm, and maybe more so by the need
for companionship and security. Duncan makes no effort to hide his
disdain for Trent, who belittles his social skills, and later in the
film goes so far as to tell him he is unwanted by his own father. Trent
chastises Duncan about building mutual respect and trust, and yet he is
banging his best friend's wife Joan (Amanda Peet),a fellow summer home
yuppie. You later find out through dialog between Joan and Trent, that
their little trysts seem to be a regular summer tradition.
Duncan is looking for any way out of the situation, or at least how he
can spend as much time as possible away from Trent, Trent's own teenage
daughter, and their friends. He sparks up a nice friendship with
Susanna (AnnaSophia Robb), a teenage girl mature beyond her years, who
has grown tired of Trent's daughter and the other arrogant, shallow
teenagers she is forced to hang out with at the beach all summer. She
gets Duncan to open up to her a little bit, and acts as a channel of
relief for Duncan away from the people he despises.
The real magic within the film is the relationship between Duncan and
Owen (Sam Rockwell),a middle-aged operator of a water park within the
resort town, who also comes from a troubled past and a strained
relationship with his own father. Owen uses his humor and confidence to
try and instill the same in Duncan, and provides Duncan with not just a
summer job to get him away from the beach house, but also an
environment where he can learn to be outgoing and build a number of
friendships. Owen knows that Duncan has trouble at home, but is careful
not to pry too much, until he can see that Duncan really needs someone
he can open up to. The three quirky water park employees aside from
Owen that the movie focuses on are played by Maya Rudolph, Nat Faxon,
and Jim Rash.
I knew it was a drama with some comedic elements, but the interesting
thing about this film, is that you would assume some of the funnier
moments would come from the likes of Steve Carrell and Maya Rudolph.
They, however, bring more of the dramatic elements to the film, with
Steve Carrell playing the dirt bag boyfriend of Toni Collette, and Maya
Rudolph (Caitlyn) a water park employee who is facing a mid-life crisis
of sorts. She had planned on working at the water park for one summer,
but is now in her fourth year there, and is starting to second guess
herself and the time she has invested in the park.
Caitlyn is continually frustrated by the park manager's lackadaisical
attitude and laid-back nature, but like many of the longtime employees
there, she is continually drawn back by the prevalent family culture
and the friendships she has formed while working at the park. The water
park operator is played with charm, wit, and panache by Sam Rockwell,
who has long been one of my favorite actors, and provides many of the
funny and heart-wrenching moments of the film.
Most of the other big laughs come from Betty (Allison Janney), who is
the slightly eccentric and sexually-repressed neighbor of Steve
Carrell's character. She has a socially deprived son with a lazy eye
named Peter (River Alexander), and the relationship between Betty and
Peter provide some of the lighter moments in the film. There are also a
couple of great moments when Duncan takes Peter to the water park to
meet his co-workers, and helps Peter gain some new found confidence of
his own.
I'll leave the ending out of my review, but I think you will find it
heartfelt and satisfying to say the least. This film is highly
recommended.
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