A Place in this World.

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while you could miss it."

The Broken Hearts Gallery Poster — A Week Away Movie Poster (c/o IMDb)

A Week Away

PG

26 March 2021

1h 37 mins

Available on Netflix

Directed & Written by Roman White

Music by Adam Watts

Starring Kevin Quinn, Bailee Madison, Jahbril Cook, Kat Conner Sterling, Ian Tucker, David Koechner, and Sherri Shepherd

Synopsis:

A troubled teenager takes a leap of faith by attending summer camp, where he finds love, friends, and a place to belong.

A Week Away is a faith-based musical. We follow a troubled teen, Will Hawkins, who chooses to attend a summer church camp. There, he learns the healing powers of kindness, forgiveness, and faith with the help of his new friends.

Ria: A Week Away is a faith-based musical. We follow a troubled teen, Will Hawkins, who chooses to attend a summer church camp. There, he learns the healing powers of kindness, forgiveness, and faith with the help of his friends.

A Week Away was something I was looking forward to watching because it was a musical. And based on its trailer, the songs sounded quite good. However, I was a bit apprehensive about how they’ll be approaching the “church camp” type of thing but, I believe they were able to deliver it well. Anyways, I’ll be reviewing A Week Away by going through each song that appears chronologically, since this is a musical.

First! “Let’s Go Make A Memory” opens A Week Away with a pretty digital background that shows the characters’ personalities. It is actually a great starter to the whole movie as it shows that it is a feel-good movie about just making a new memory in a new place with new friends. Then the movie starts! So it introduces our main character Will, as a delinquent who is now an orphan. After being chased by the police (which I run along with when I work out HSHDHSHDH), he’s seen talking to Mark who tells him he now has to go to juvie because of what he’s done. It is quite a cliche that the movie starts with a delinquent, sort of like bad boy main character but despite the sort of cliche, slow start the movie picks up more.

“A Great Adventure” is the first-ever big ensemble song in the movie. It shows the montage where Will, the reluctant delinquent kid, goes camping. We pretty much meet all important characters in this part. The song montages Will’s travel to the camp and everyone singing and he’s so confused with what’s going on. And when he reaches the camp, he sees Avery (with the slow-motion and everything), and he falls in looooooovee, joke, but seriously, he gets interested in her, so it’s we now know who his love interest is. We also meet Sean, with all the harmony singing and saving the narwhals, hehe. We also learn more about the two camp heads who basically oversee the whole camp. This song number is quite fun and serves mostly as an introductory.

“Good Enough”. I actually don’t know what more to say. The song says a great meaning, but nothing happens between George and Presley, anyways.

George (Jahbril Cook) and Presley (Kat Conner Sterling) during "Good Enough"

“Dive”. Dive is one of my favorite scenes ever. The build-up to the song was also great. We got to know more about the whole camp itself and Will through the game “5 Minutes”. We also learn about the camp, “Aweegaway” and how one person may discover a place where they truly belong. (it’s all very philosophical). Then, the song comes up (after a few more lies from Will) and I love it. Super duper love it. I love dancing to it, I love the cinematography, the visuals, especially that one part with the slow-motion water splashes and the sun reflecting, the cinematography was absolutely wonderful in that part. Although I think the choreography could’ve been better, the whole ensemble is really one of my favorites.

“Baby, baby”. Cringe. Cringe. Cringe. No. No. No. THE SECOND-HAND EMBARRASSMENT IS REAL OH PLS SAVE ME. I’m not saying anything about this, just that it’s absolutely cringey and I got so disappointed at something. To be fair though, their set-up was absolutely hilarious.

A “Place in this World” is the duet of the male and female main characters, Will and Avery, which is always a big yes in teen movies nowadays. I actually don’t have much to say in this except that the scenery in these scenes was really pretty. I loved the sunrise or sunset (?; I know right! At first they said it was the sunrise but while they were dancing, it looked like the sun was already setting) in the background with the lake and like mountains or hills in the back. And they danced on the boardwalk. Everything was very picturesque. Aside from this, I loved Will and Avery’s conversation. It talked about how being perfect is actually quite impossible. I can totally relate to it and it really hits me. “It’s like, I’m trying to be what everyone expects me to be, and it is exhausting.” (Avery, Bailee Madison). It is exhausting Avery. They also briefly talked about the death of their parents, Will’s parents, and Avery’s mom, and we see sort of their conflicting views. Avery chooses to believe that she’ll see her mom again and Will’s a bit more apprehensive. It shows the different beliefs that people have and we should acknowledge those.

“Big House” is another ensemble song! I love this part because it is the fun part again. It continues the montage of showing everyone in camp playing Warrior Games!!! It is sort of like a continuation of Dive. And here, it shows the paintball scenes! Avery and Will going all Mr. and Mrs. Smith were absolutely awesome and Avery being really badass is so great. Girl power can’t be beaten. The relationship between Will and George has blossomed into a really nice friendship.

Sean (Iain Tucker) hyping up his team for the paintball battle.

“Awesome God / God Only Knows” is the most religious song in the whole movie. Both songs are actual Christian songs mashed up beautifully together. This whole scene is the most religious in the whole movie, in my opinion, but what I liked is that they didn’t enforce the religion Christianity on anyone. Instead, they showed what Christians also go through, what conflicts they face, and how at times, they don’t even feel God’s presence. And after, when Avery and Will were talking, I was quite sad that even though it looked like Will was about to confess everything, he still didn’t. But I liked how there was character development in him and has started trusting the people around him more.

Uh oh, Sean is up to something, and it’s not good.

“Where I Belong” is the only solo song of Will. As young adults, many of us don’t actually know what we are going to be doing in life. We don’t know what places we should be in, and may not even have that sense of belonging. Similar to Will, now feeling like a fraud, he runs from camp and wants to get back to his “real” self. But honestly, he just hasn’t realized that camp is where he belongs. His fight with Avery was very impactful for me. I cried when I watched that scene for the first time. When Will said that he’s always been alone, I FELT THAT. This, I think, is the peak of the movie. I can really relate with both Will and Avery’s point of view of things because I believe we all feel really alone at times.

“Best Thing Ever”. The ending scenes. I loved the stage version. One of my favorite songs and scenes. I’m not particularly sure why because I was expecting it and it is cliche, but I loved it. HAHAHAHAHAA

Avery (Bailee Madison) and Will (Kevin Quinn) before "Best Thing Ever"

Overall, this movie is nice. I got very addicted to most songs and I really like the message it conveys. I believe that the meaning of belonging is very relevant today especially with the COVID 19 pandemic and everyone being in confusion and panic. It’s like we don’t know who we are and what we are supposed to do. However, there are still many points for improvement like in the plotline and choreography. A Week Away is something I recommend to people who love musicals and a feel-good movie.

Jhanya: Compared to Ria’s positive thoughts and praises for the film, mine is more of a meh and nah reaction.

A Week Away is an OKAY film.

It’s a good “I’m bored and don’t have anything else to watch” movie. But it isn’t the first film that you would think of when you want to watch a good movie. It’s just not that good, especially after watching it a second time.

Before I continue, I just want to say that I don’t have anything against the themes and message that A Week Away wants to convey. I’m a devout Catholic, trust me. But the plot and the writing are just mediocre at best and did not leave a lasting impression for me.

The film does great with the comedy and the musical numbers, but other than that, it’s meh. First, the plot can be mistaken to be written by a teen trying to write their first book on Wattpad. It just feels too much like every other cliche, YA Musical film out there with an added touch of religion. And yeah, that’s the point of it, but they could’ve done something new. Come on, it’s 2021.

Sean (Iain Tucker) and the other Azure Apostles singing.

A Week Away also had a lot of “it is, but it isn’t” moments. Like how the biggest “conflict” in the film is Will lying to the people at camp, specifically Avery, about his delinquent past, but it isn’t really a conflict because why would Avery judge Will for that minor transgression that happened in the past. There’s also the “antagonistic” character of Sean, whose flaws are really just being too competitive, jealous, and prideful for the majority of the film. To be honest, I think this has to be my biggest issue with the movie. There isn’t any conflict and there wasn’t really anything at stake, meaning there was really nothing achieved at the end. Sure, some could argue that Will finally overcome his family issues and learned to open up to others, but it was pushed aside with his infatuation with Avery from the moment he laid eyes on her. Like, the plot moved forward because Will wanted to impress Avery most of the time.

Additionally, for a film that says to mainly center on faith, it felt really lacking in that aspect. Sure they talked and sang a lot about it, but they failed to indulge a bit more on the topic and actually mention the struggles over faith, the doubts, unfairness, and willingness to trust in the Lord, which would have been a good addition to the dull plot. A Week Away just really lacks the overall ambition to try something different, something new. And that is where this film really falls short.

The characters also fell short in terms of how they were written. The cast was good, to be honest, they fit their roles well and stuck to each character’s quirks throughout the film. But the way they were written was just so lackluster. Will (Kevin Quinn) was and looked too much like Troy Bolton from High School Musical if Troy was the typical teen fiction “bad boy” with a troubled past and simps too much for Gabriella LMAO. George is your loyal, funny, and comic relief best friend that the male lead slowly comes to like over the course of the story. And Avery is the “perfect” girl that actually has sad problems underneath all that whole “I’ve got everything figured out” front.

Okay, back to the parts I actually liked about the film. The comedy was great, I legit laughed at some parts, especially when David (Avery’s dad, David Koechner) and Kristin (Sherri Sheperd) were involved. I laughed the most when David told Will specifically to not sell his camp on Craigslist LOL. The callouts to some Christian stereotypes were also present, which was nice to see that they didn’t avoid the “annoying’ side of being a devout Christian. A great example of this is how Sean’s character is the very open and loud Christian that feels the constant need to assure his faith by doing a gazillion “good deeds”, and sharing/flexing these deeds to others. I’ve met a lot of people like him, and I must say that I am not the biggest fan of them, even though I greatly respect the things they have done.

David (Avery’s dad, David Koechner) and Kristin (Sherri Sheperd) watching the paintball match.

The musical numbers were also fun and entertaining. Kudos to the writers of the songs for writing actually good songs. I couldn’t get “Dive” and “The Best Thing Ever” out of my head, a week after watching it the first time. I especially liked the one where they were on the beach (“Dive”) as the song and choreography just threw me back to my Disney childhood phase. However, I do have to pick on the placement of the song “Big House” during the cabin battles, as it felt out of place during the paintball scenes LOL. Other than that though, the songs were good and fit the overall themes and scenes, despite having that one cringe-y part where I was legit getting goosebumps.

That is all for my review of this film. Don’t get me wrong, I liked it. It’s not unwatchable, and in a way, it’s actually a breath of fresh air from the massive amounts of serious, dark films that are being released today. But overall, A Week Away is really is just OKAY and definitely not something that my film-loving brain will remember in the long run.