The Way Way Back

(Image credit: Claire Folger)

Funny, touching and irresistibly charming, this coming-of-age comedy stars Liam James as a tongue-tied, painfully self-conscious 14-year-old

Funny, touching and irresistibly charming, this coming-of-age comedy stars Liam James as a tongue-tied, painfully self-conscious 14-year-old.

He's on summer holiday with his insecure mother (Toni Collette), her creepy, controlling boyfriend (Steve Carell) and his snide daughter (Zoe Levin).

He couldn't be more miserable, until he gets a job at a ramshackle local water park run by endearingly lazy Sam Rockwell.

The stars give winning performances and they get excellent support from the likes of Allison Janney, Maya Rudolph and AnnaSophia Robb, while the script ripples with jokes, japes and some real feeling, too, as it gets the pains, joys and awkwardness of adolescence just right.