The Way, Way Back: Indie Films don’t have the budget to be disappointing explosions

2013 for me has been a semi-depressing collection of films.  Quite a few of the big films have been explosive disappointments.  It would be like instead of Jaws, Spielberg made Sharknado.  Jaws doesn’t suffer from a lack of shark; Sharknado (probably) suffers from an overabundance of sharks.

The film I saw today (yesterday), The Way, Way Back is an example of an enjoyable movie experience.  Written and directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, this small (under $5 million budget) film is bursting with charm and awkward humor.  If you can’t tell, I’m recommending that you see this film.

I’m assuming the star-stuffed cast appeared as a favor because it includes Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, Sam Rockwell, Maya Rudolph, Amanda Peet, and LIAM JAMES.  Okay, I don’t expect you to be familiar with that last name.  He’s one of the young lads who make appearances in the flashbacks of Psych as the young Shawn.  He does a great job as a very awkward teenager who is being tortured by the adults in his life.

I am ranking it at 6 out of the 22 films I’ve seen thus far in 2013 on my movie list.  It beat out Kings of Summer because I like felt like Way, Way Back is funnier.  And because I felt sorry for Duncan.  I feel like I more often wanted to punch Joe.

So yeah.  Four million dollars and you can make a small film that I like or a hundred and twenty million to make a film I don’t like (The Wolverine).  And the only way I can think of to try and modify the ratio of enjoyable films to shite films is to tell people to go see some small films.  Please.

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