The Way, Way Back

The Way, Way Back is a 2013 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash in their directorial debuts. It stars Liam James as Duncan, an introverted 14-year-old who goes on summer vacation to Wareham, Massachusetts, with his mother and her overbearing boyfriend. It also stars Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, AnnaSophia Robb, Sam Rockwell, and Maya Rudolph, with Rob Corddry, Amanda Peet, Faxon, and Rash in supporting roles. Faxon and Rash conceived the film in the early 2000s, but it spent several years in development hell before funding could be secured. Filming lasted several months during summer 2012. It premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, where Fox Searchlight Pictures (which also distributed The Descendants, co-written by Faxon and Rash, and where the film was originally in production) acquired distribution rights to it. The film was theatrically released in the United States on July 5, 2013, where it received positive reviews and was a box office success, grossing $26.9 million against its $5 million budget.