Away We Go

John Krasinksi and Maya Rudolph play a loving, slacker couple who, six months into an unplanned pregnancy, set off on a road trip in search of a place to call home. As the couple make their way around the U.S.—with one stop in Canada—the locales and the situations of the various hilarious, crazy and messed-up characters they meet up with at each stop reveal a range of potential lifestyles and life turns. Krasinski and Rudolph are perfect as the rumpled and endearing couple, and though they are anxious about possibly being “fuck-ups” for not having progressed further in life, they come to see that the established families they encounter along the way are each as lost in the world as they are. The messages in director Sam Mendes’ follow-up to Revolutionary Road are broad as billboards and the narrative is as mapped out as the couple’s journey, but that isn’t as annoying as it might sound (though the soundtrack featuring the excellent, moody tunes of Alexi Murdoch is very annoying as it repeatedly smothers the film’s intimate moments). It all just serves as a comfortable foundation on which to cozy up to the likeable leads as they playfully navigate a confusing crossroads in their shared lives. Pageant Theatre. Rated R