A Week Away!

The wonderful season of summer, church camp, and a line-up of not too shabby songs? Let’s do this. It’s A Week Away! First off, allow me to apologize. I realize that this first review is not of a Disney film, but I watched A Week Away more recently. The next one will be of a Disney film, I promise. Warning: This review contains spoilers for the film. It is a movie review, after all. So, if you have not seen the film yet, and were already interested in doing so, I would advise that you stop reading right now. However, if you want to see the film but are worried that it could maybe, for some reason, end in a zombie apocalypse, by all means, keep reading. The film A Week Away, directed by Roman White, tells the story of Will (Kevin Quinn), a teen who has been in and out of foster care, and is one bad step away from Juvey. As luck would have it, he is invited to attend a summer church camp by one of the foster parents, Kristin (Sherri Shepard), and her nerdy but sweet son, George (Jahbril Cook).

There he meets Avery (Bailee Madison), one of the camp regulars (well, her father does own the place), and the one seemingly destined to change his life. I have to say, I was not at all surprised by the love story component of the film. First, because it is a musical, clearly targeting an audience of young adults and teens, of course part of it has to revolve around young love.
 Second, the story kind of reminds me of High School Musical, and Pitch Perfect, if they were suddenly set at church camp. Both of those movies have strong representations of music, and some of the cutest cinematic love stories for the younger set. 

This new Netflix ™ film, released on the streaming service just a couple of weeks ago, is purposefully a musical. I suppose the music is well matched to this teenage underdog story of redemption and finding your family. I was not sure if I was going to enjoy the music in the film. When I see a musical for the first time, I never know if I will leave it thinking it was a good musical or not. I always try to stay neutral going into it. This way, I don’t get my hopes up too high, or set myself up for a big let-down. I did like the music in this one, though. I actually enjoy most musicals that I see for one reason or another, but I felt that the musical aspect of this film strengthened it and carried the story well. I actually think that the fact that this was a musical was one of the main reasons I wanted to watch it. 

Look, I enjoy a good redeeming and fun underdog story as much as the next girl, but as much as I enjoyed this film, and believe me I did, I’m able to admit the predictability of the story as well. I don’t mean how it’s a cliché musical about a church camp. I have never seen a musical quite like that. I mean for a teenage love/underdog story, it is quite predictable. You have the hero, or main character, who has to find a way to fit in and belong. In this case, this is Will. You have the nerdy kid that he befriends: George. You have the love interest: Avery. You also almost always have the mean kid who thinks that they are better than everyone else, and gets the hero in trouble. In this film’s case, this character is the egotistical, but still somehow lovable Sean (Iain Tucker). Although, it is a church setting, so I suppose they don’t want to get too evil). Do not despair quite yet. Since this story’s mean kid is fairly similar to High School Musical’s Sharpay Evans, he has to come around in the end. Not that it was that big of a surprise to me, but to put you all at ease, yes, he does come around in the end. However predictable the film was, it was cute, and funny, and really engaging through its musical numbers. To make the ending of the film even better, while also sticking to the classic orphan component of kids and young adult movies, Will is asked if he wants to come and live with Kristin and George! He does.

I have to say I just love Will’s reaction to this. In movies, kids who are in foster care or are close to being adopted, especially the older they get, are usually more likely to be hostile, very quiet and expressionless, and even have the tendency to lash out at the people who have chosen to take them in. Will does lash out at the girl with whom he is falling in love, following the revelation that he has a complicated history. He runs away, she chases after him, they fight, and she leaves in tears. Yes, it is another trope of the classic underdog love story. Let’s face it, these “finding where you belong” movies always have an argument scene either after or during the period of time in which the hero’s secret is revealed. 

Anyway, in the end, he of course realizes that this is the place where he belongs. He really has found a family again anyway, so being offered a home with Kristin and George excites him so much. He responds to the offer of a home by exclaiming “yes!” and throwing his arms around Kristin. I find that heartwarming. Now that everything has wrapped up nicely, it is, of course time for the musical finale, which is actually just a reprise of the song sung at the talent show. It wasn’t as big, or as long of a finale as I had hoped, but we did get an extra performance during the end credits and blooper reel, which is always nice. The finale was short, but fun. It helped end the film the way it was supposed to: simple, but satisfying.

I wouldn’t say that I would definitely recommend this movie, but I wouldn’t say the opposite either. If you enjoy musicals, and think that a story about a Christian summer camp is an intriguing premise for a musical film, then I would strongly advise that you see it. 

Happy Spring and happy watching!