expe67
since i am a 49 year old person,but feel ..kind of young,i really enjoyed this movie.although you 've basically have seen all this before,the troubled shy kid ,the cool ..mentor,the adults problems.another example if you make something with good taste you have a winner.of course it helps if you have an outstanding cast ,like Toni and Sam and ..dick carell ha ha.the kids also played great.it's all about u find a special situation,a place,people, which you belong to.i think everybody craves for such whether young or old ,any living thing.very warm movie.hey ,in the end ,i,and the rest of the planet, like to think the two went back . tell me it is so.THAT was the power magic of this movie.GREAT ,JUST GREAT 11111 OOOOPS SORRY !!!!!!!! HAHAHAHA
sugarnspices
I rated this movie a 2 out of 10. It had a few funny scenes thanks to Allison J., but even her character was over the top and never turned off. That was my main "problem" with this movie was all the over the top/extreme personalities of just about every character. Nobody is like this in real life, all the time. Now let me go into the most "oh come on already" characters of this extreme Hollywood wanna be Indie, deep movie. The kid, Duncan. This kid made me feel so uncomfortable the entire time. From his dark purple lips and bleached out skin, to his long unnatural arms with huge hands and head. Now not trying to be mean, but I thought he had some kind of giantism and was autistic, had to come to trust my IMDb and read his page to find out I was wrong. He crossed the "shy, finding himself" feel to plain old creepy and mentally disabled. Couldn't relate with him at all other than feeling sorry for him by the way every one "treated" him and completely ignored him. Which brings me to the mother..Toni Collete. I love her. Always have. But I've never been so disgusted with a female character in my life. Just completely ignoring and watching some boyfriend completely ridicule and put down your obviously different son, non-stop, everywhere was just completely annoying and angering. Yes, let's strap on a HUGE red life vest on this kid with a whole group of people, but he is the ONLY one that has to wear it because your boyfriend said so. And on top of that, let's ALL just completely ignore the fact the kid is sitting in the shade by himself looking like he is about to kill himself, and all just laugh and have a good old time, only glancing over and showing some kind of "aw" once in awhile, but go right back to the group fun! What a great mom!!! If I were that kid I would have told her to shove it up where the sun don't shine and never speak to her again. That kind of mental abuse is not funny or she just needed to see it herself and figure it out. No. She needed to be slapped in the face and take her mom card away. Oh but she climbs in the "way way back" at the end and give him the "op, sorry I was the worst mother alive for the last few weeks, putting some strange man before you repeadtly in front of everyone, but I look sorry so we are good, right? Cool." NO. Steve C. played the a-hole bf OK, at first. It got to a point of just ridiculousness and unreal by the end. The kid breaks out of the car to sprint to the water park last minute, shocking, and they go in to find him and Steve yells "What are we doing here, c'mon!!!" Yes, like he is expecting everyone to be like "oh, he is in the water park..he likes it there, who's hungry, let's just keep going." Over the top, unrealistic and annoying. Like most the movie. Brings me to pretty much every character from the water park. Annoying, annoying, over the top, unrealistic and did I say annoying?? The gross water slide guy and his 1 minute way too long of "hold it, still holding" annoyance was so stupid. Yes some 40 something year old creep is going to keep some teenage girl standing here as all 3 of them obviously stare at her body is OK and like she wouldn't notice and become skeeved out and leave. Disgusting. Sam R.'s character was the typical, laid back, don't care, super cool, can eff off all summer and in life, but not until the girl he likes puts him in his place in a random 5 second scene, was all he needed to start growing up and be a man. And don't get me started with the dancing scene at the water park. "You can have the cardboard, but you gotta dance for it" as they all stand around and clap and support his autistic awkward dancing, and don't forget the girl showing him all those rocking moves such as the robot! You know kids just LOVE the robot, it's just so cool!!! Barf. This movie was cute-ish, and had some good humor, but overall was a typical Hollywood script you could call 10 minutes before it happen and was beyond corny and campy and everything I can't stand in a movie.
Calum Rhys
In all honesty, I completely loved this film, it is one of the most heartwarming coming-of-age stories of recent years and blends comedy, drama and emotion perfectly. With top notch performances, most notably from Sam Rockwell as the overzealous-yet-lovable waterpark manager Owen and Steve Carrel as the somewhat unexpectedly despicable Trent, both James and Robb also do wonders as the young duo. The film itself has a nice indie feel to it with a fantastic acoustic score, supported by some fine music choices and a generally satisfying story as a whole. A definite must-watch if you enjoy coming-of-age dramas with that hint of heartwarming humour.
