Coming of Age

This last summer was the summer of coming-of-age movies:  The Spectacular Now, The Kings of Summer, and The Way Way Back.  My sister, Anna, and I are both suckers for coming-of-age stories.  I’m not sure why.  Maybe it’s a generational thing?  Garden State came out between my senior year of high school and freshman year of college – prime time to feel all nostalgic and into indie music.  Maybe that’s why I’m a sucker for these types of stories.  It definitely isn’t because of The Catcher in the Rye.  I really don’t like that book, despite it being perhaps the definitive coming-of-age novel.  On the other hand, I love A Wrinkle in Time, and that’s all about a young girl figuring out life.

Anyway, if you aren’t into these types of stories, you might as well stop reading this post, because it’s basically a love letter to the coming-of-age drama.  Stories that force self-reflection, that make you pine for youth and innocence while lamenting its inevitable loss, that fill you with hope, even though you know it’s probably never going to work out for these kids the way they want it to.  But they’re going to try damnit, and so should you.

The Spectacular Now

I saw this movie at the end of the summer, which is honestly the best time to see this movie (not that you should wait for next summer if you haven’t seen it yet).  It’s a romantic coming-of-age story between Sutter (great name) and Amy, and while both characters grow through the movie, the story is primarily Sutter’s.  

As most critics agree, Miles Teller (Sutter) and Shailene Woodley (Amy), knock it out of the park.  The supporting cast is also pretty phenomenal with Bob Odenkirk (I seriously cannot get enough of him, and not to go on too long of tangent, his cameo in the last season of The Office makes watching all the episodes up to that point completely worth it), Jennifer Jason Leigh (after Existenz, I would follow her anywhere), Kyle Chandler (Coach Taylor if he’d completely fallen off the wagon), and Brie Larson (if you haven’t watched The United States of Tara, stop reading this post, go watch the series on Netflix, and come back when you’re done).

The movie is good and surprising.  It’s interesting to watch a coming-of-age story with a guy that is actually a little hard to get behind.  He’s charming and likable, but also simultaneously selfish and self-destructive.  The ending may seem full of hope, but based on Sutter’s actions up to that point, one wonders if he can really hold it together.  

The Kings of Summer

This story follows three friends as they plan to escape their parents by building their own home in the woods.  It’s a bromance coming-of-age story.  There is something very old school about this movie.  The idea of running away to the woods, to escape harsh reality.  It’s Into the Wild and Lord of the Flies and The Boxcar Children.  It’s both a romantic idea and a terrible one.

Nick Robinson (Joe) and Gabriel Basso (Patrick) are incredible, but the scene-stealer is Moises Arias (Biaggio) as he provides a huge amount of both the comedy and the heart.  This movie has another stellar supporting cast with Nick Offerman (offers a great amount of depth as Joe’s father), Megan Mullally (plays the absolute most hilarious helicopter parent of all time), and Alison Brie (she’s the straight man to Nick Offerman’s grumpy asshole character and she plays it perfectly).  There are also fantastic cameos by Kumail Nanjiani, Hannibel Buress, and Tony Hale.

I love how the film acts as a coming-of-age story for both Joe and his father.  It’s incredibly well done, and it ends cautiously hopeful.  Perhaps they will both figure out how to live well while still participating in society.  But there is the distinct possibility that they won’t, and Alison Brie’s character will be cursed to bringing boyfriends back to meet her miserable and grumpy brother and father.  At least Joe had one summer.

The Way Way Back

First things first, I love the title of this movie.  My siblings and I would call that third back seat of our car the “way way back.”  It’s immediately familiar and nostalgic.  The story follows Duncan as he adjusts to summering at a beach house with his mother’s boyfriend and his daughter.

Liam James (Duncan) is excellent, shy and awkward, just trying to get through the day.  But it’s the supporting cast that makes this movie.  Toni Collette (see my comment above re The United States of Tara), Steve Carrell (steps out of his usual likable average guy to be full on douchebag), Allison Janney (I am currently watching a Chuck Lorre sitcom because she’s in it, and you know what, she makes it totally worth the laugh track), Sam Rockwell (is he ever not awesome in a movie?), Maya Rudolph (under utilized but still completely great), and small parts for the writers, Jim Rash and Nat Faxon.  I’m glad these two guys won an Oscar, because it ought to mean we get more movies like this one.

Once again, this film is a coming-of-age story for both Duncan and his mother.  It’s also one for Sam Rockwell’s character as he is forced to face growing up just a little bit in order to protect not only Duncan but all of his employees at the water park.  This movie is probably the funniest of the three (at least intentionally), and it definitely ends with the most hope.

 

I guess basically what I’m saying is given that all of these movies are perfect summer films and fantastic coming-of-age stories, I plan on keeping them all in the cabin I will one day own.  And friends and family will stay there and say how sick they are of these same types of movies and how I should get some action films or something.  And it is unlikely they will find relief on my bookshelf, because except for The Catcher in the Rye, it will be filled with coming-of-age stories too.  And if they complain too much, I’ll tell them to go out in the woods and build their own cabin, cause damnit, that’s what a coming-of-age story is all about.