Away We Go is an offbeat take on the road movie genre. Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph) are a 30-something couple expected their first child. They suddenly realize that they don’t know how they want to raise a child, or indeed what kind of a life they want for themselves. So they set out on a journey to visit an assortment of friends and relatives, hoping to find an appropriate role model.

The movie is comprised of a series of visits with various families. Some of these people are horrible. (These sequences are very funny.) Some of them are nice people. (These sequences are sad.) Eventually of course Burt and Verona decide to stop looking for a perfect couple to imitate and look for a way to create a life that is appropriate for themselves.

One thing that surprised me is that Maya Rudolph doesn’t get to do anything funny. She plays straight man to the other characters’ comic bits, and otherwise treats this as a straight dramatic role. Perhaps this is why her character strikes me as rather unsympathetic.