A Movie That Hates You
A.O. Scott’s review of the infuriating Sam Mendes-directed, Dave Eggers-scripted indie dramedy, Away We Go, is one of the best movie-crit takedowns I’ve seen in a while — delightful to read, and devastatingly accurate in its indictment of the film’s cruel smugness.
Best line: “…played with passive-aggressive winsomeness by Maya Rudolph and Jon Krasinski, are manifestly superior to everyone else in the movie and, by implication, the world.” With small changes, the same applies to a lot of Dave Eggers’ products.
But after reading the review, I want to see the movie! I’m hoping I get to see Krasinski’s (ironic? earnest?) beard in 3D.
— tom · Jun 7, 05:57 PM · #
I liked Eggers’ What is the What, but that one is based on the story and character of a real person, and so is rather resistant to smugness.
— Ethan C. · Jun 7, 08:45 PM · #
Sam Mendes directs Dave Eggers…I know that in light of this film people are going to say this is a match made in smug-heaven, but when I first heard that Mendes would be directing this script I thought, huh? It’s not that Eggers isn’t as smug as Mendes, necessarily, but if he is, it’s in a different way. The Believer is very hip-with-film magazine, and not in the Sam Mendes vein. So the combo seems not just disastrous, but odd.
— Matt Feeney · Jun 8, 01:06 AM · #
The way it works, pretty much, is that Mendes gets hold of Eggers, leaves the smugness intact, strips it of any innocence or sweetness, and plays up mean-spirited condescension — so you get a movie that’s insufferably smug and cruel.
— Peter Suderman · Jun 8, 06:54 AM · #
Sam Mendes movies are the Left Behind series for hipsters, secular progressives, and bobos.
— Bill Butler · Jun 8, 12:39 PM · #