I Make Movie Review-Away We Go

Whilst robots are duking it out for a pin-up girl and the dude from Even Stevens and Captain Jack Sparrow is running around with a tommy-gun and making goo-goo eyes behind sunglasses, you're all missing the funniest, cleverest, most affecting live-action movie of the year thus far-a true diamond in the rough called Away We Go. The plot? John Krasinki (he owns in "The Office") and Maya Rudolph (she owns on SNL) play Burt and Verona, a thirty-something unmarried couple trekking across America to find the perfect place to raise their soon-to-be-born baby. A young couple, a long road-trip, an indie-rock soundtrack-think you've seen it before? Think again. The script by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida is, in a word, splendid. If you thought Juno was funny, get a load of this story-it's so jam-packed with great dialogue and intriguing detail that, if printed on paper, it would be a great stand-alone novel. But for all the odd folks the couple runs into along the way-a delusional hippie-baby mama (Maggie Gylenhaal), a howler of a foul-mouthed ex-boss (Alison Janney-love her), and a quirky, aloof dad (Jeff Bridges) to name a few-the writers and director Sam Mendes always take the time to make them real, heartfelt people. We're never laughing at them, just at their actions. And then there's the lead couple. Thanks to two gorgeously textured and Oscar-worthy performances by Krasinki and Rudoplh, Burt and Verona ooze so much natural humor and chemistry that they may very well be the sweetest, most believable couple the movies have given us this millennium. These are people who, after the movie, you feel like you want to know personally. By the end of the movie, which packs a surprising emotional punch, we've fall in love with Burt, Verona and their whole crazy odyssey. This isn't a movie to sit back and admire. It's one to be madly, passionately crazy about-and one to celebrate. A