MovieChat Forums > The Way Way Back (2013) Discussion > If you're going to have a wisecriacking ...

If you're going to have a wisecriacking older mentor...

posted 9 years ago by chet19
9 replies | jump to latest

Make sure you give him funny material. Sam Rockwell was an exact copy of Bill Murray in Meatballs and countless other older-guy-befriends-the-teen. Sam's lines were silly, but not funny.
When he stood up to Steve Carrell and said "I'm the friend of the 3," that was his only great line of the movie. He needed more.

[–] GhostTheDireWolf 9 years ago

He had countless great lines a lot of them were improvised as well, the directors and actors have both stated that Meatballs was an inspiration I wouldn't say an exact copy

[–] Wuchak (8189) 3 years ago

Far from an exact copy. This is, by far, the superior film.

[–] ivyelle4 9 years ago

I actually didn't get the "I'm the friend of three" joke. Still don't :-p

[–] hugor 9 years ago

In the beginning of the movie Trent states that Duncan is a "3", on a scale from 1-10, which pisses him off immensely.

[–] MovieGem 9 years ago

I didn't get that right away either, but after the second watch I did and it made me love Owen even more lol.

[–] ivyelle4 9 years ago

Oh. Haha. I do now. Since Trent called him a three in the beginning. Narf :-p

[–] nutsberryfarm 9 years ago

thought he was well written. he wasn't patronizing like trent.

🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴

[–] mgulev 9 years ago

The great thing about Owens lines is that they didn´t have the feel of a dozen Hollywood producers pushing them. He could have been given funnier material, but then it wouldn´t have been believable.
Someone mentioned Meatballs ... How about Chevy Chases character in Caddishack?

[–] slim_sanders 8 years ago

I tend to agree with you actually. I could see what they were going for but the lines weren't that funny or clever. A younger Michael Keaton would have been amazing.