Away We Go
Focus Features | Release Date: June 5, 2009 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
11
Negative:
3
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
TV Guide MagazinePerry Seibert
Like "Juno" or "Little Miss Sunshine," Away We Go is a small film, the kind of gem that's easy to crush with hype or overpraise. But, the fact is that few movies deal with feelings this profound with as much restraint as Mendes and his crew display here. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Rudolph, a comic force on "SNL," can speak volumes with the tilt of an eyebrow. She and Krasinski, of "The Office," are absolutely extraordinary. Ditto the film, which sneaks up and floors you. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
A movie with memorable and engaging performances. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Burt and Verona are two characters rarely seen in the movies: thirtysomething, educated, healthy, self-employed, gentle, thoughtful, whimsical, not neurotic and really truly in love. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Though Away We Go lacks the screwball unpredictability of something like "Flirting With Disaster," it compensates with a unexpected depth of feeling, a novelist’s (or memoirist’s) sense of detail, and a panoramic view of what home means. Read full review
80
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Some of the episodes are ripely satirical, others almost heartbreaking. Allison Janney appears as a coarse drunk who taunts her kids; Maggie Gyllenhaal is a pushy New Age mom whose aggressive virtue saps the strength of everyone around her. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The episodic structure works to the movie's benefit, highlighting the eccentric supporting characters and allowing Mendes to smoothly downshift from hilarity to sadness. Read full review
80
EmpireOlly Richards
While cynics may find it twee, Mendes fans should greatly enjoy this (gently) surprising change of direction. Go in with the right frame of mind and you’ll leave with a big, goofy grin on your face. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Away We Go is not as dramatically wrenching as "Revolutionary Road," but it's unquestionably more enjoyable. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The unassuming performances by Krasinski and Rudolph help make this the first Mendes movie that feels lived-in rather than staged. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
There's something genuinely exploratory and original here in the depiction of people being pushed into adulthood before they're ready. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Some episodes are funnier than others, but they're all underscored by a pervasive melancholy. Read full review
75
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike Scott
A heartwarming -- and at times heartbreaking -- post-"Juno" road comedy for grownups. Read full review
70
Film ThreatRick Kisonak
The odyssey that follows reminded me of the one Bill Murray’s character took in "Broken Flowers" - and I mean that in the most complimentary way. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
A gilded entry in the cinema du quirk. It's a movie that invites you, all too often, to feel superior to the people on screen. Read full review
67
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The film's one extraordinary aspect, which makes it well worth seeing despite its carefully coiffed shagginess, is Maya Rudolph's performance. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Glib and charming in roughly equal measure. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
In tone and plotting, Away We Go feels like a fairy tale built on an aggravating collection of attitudes. It's condescending, judgmental, righteous, yet sincerely searching. Read full review
63
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Maya Rudolph's subtle, lyrical portrait of a patient wife and expectant mother enlivens and elevates Away We Go, an erratic couple-on-a-quest film. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
A self-satisfied film about insecure people, a quirky and episodic comic drama that squanders its genuine assets and ends up not as special as it tries to be. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
Though it's nice to see Mendes take a looser, not quite so studied approach to his filmmaking, some stops along the way -- like a detour to visit Burt's suddenly single brother (Paul Schneider) -- feel dramatically off-course. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
If we learn anything from Away We Go, it’s that a lack of ambition might not be such a bad thing after all. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle Smith
The strange thing about the movie is its idea that such couples are rare flowers. But you can scarcely take a step in Seattle or San Francisco or Los Feliz without meeting them in hordes. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
One can almost feel the movie Away We Go might have been, if only we could believe that Verona loves Burt - or understand why Burt loves Verona. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
See it for the performances – they are delights from the leads on down to the characters in the episodic vignettes. But the film’s vision of Gen-Y nesting is liable to leave you up a tree. Read full review
40
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
Travel--finding the self by escaping the self--is central to the novels of Eggers and Vida, but Mendes knows where he's going before he gets there. And so the subject of Away We Go turns out to be not travel but child-rearing, which is at best well-meaning and anguished and at worst downright monstrous. Read full review
40
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Does it sound as if I hate this movie? Don't be silly. But don't be fooled. This movie does not like you. Read full review
40
SalonStephanie Zacharek
An exploration of self-absorption that is itself too self-absorbed to be either entertaining or enlightening. Read full review
40
TimeRichard Corliss
A bloated, criminally judgmental borderline-comedy. Read full review
40
SlateDana Stevens
Away We Go is like a disappointing term paper by a promising student. Read full review
30
VarietyDennis Harvey
Emerges as an oddly sour, unappealing road-trip scenario. Read full review
30
Village VoiceScott Foundas
The road-trippers of Away We Go harbor no discernible ambitions whatsoever, which may make them true to Gen-Y life, but also renders them fatally uninteresting. For all the ground they cover geographically, dramatically their velocity remains zero. Mendes, too, seems to have trouble getting on board with the underachieving set. Read full review
30
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
It's in these vignettes that Away We Go begins to feel less like an authentic exploration of identity than a condemnation of the very community the couple pretends to crave. No one, it turns out, is good enough for Burt and Verona. Read full review
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