Photo courtesy of Dailymotion
Starring Bailee Madison and Kevin Quinn, “A Week Away” is a modern coming-of-age musical with familiar themes of finding a place to belong and being true to oneself. While the concepts of the film are somewhat inspiring, most of the movie’s plot is predictable and monotone.
“A Week Away” follows Will Hawkins (Kevin Quinn), an orphaned teenager with a troubled past consisting of jumping around in the foster care system. After his most recent crime involving a police car, his only option seems to be going to juvie. However, after a chance encounter with Kristin (Kerri Shepherd) and her son George (Jahbril Cook), Hawkins is given a once in a lifetime get-out-of-jail free card in the form of attending summer camp.
From depending solely on himself while living on the streets to being part of a tribe during his time at summer camp, Hawkins’ life starts to have a fun beat to it. Filled with musical numbers that exaggerate the happiness and upbeat nature of the camp and its campers, “A Week Away” has many moments where if a dance number isn’t involved, then a musical number is.
Whenever there is a point in the movie where a character is going through something, much like other musicals, a song appears. When it’s evident Hawkins is torn between running away or staying at the camp, a song comes up. The addition of music provides a lighthearted feel to the movie. However, the inclusion of musical numbers makes the movie lose focus and become dull.
In a very classic boy-meets-girl concept, Hawkins tries during the entirety of his time at Camp Aweegaway to be a different person to fit in and attract the eye of the camp director’s daughter, Avery (Bailee Madison). Finally understanding the summer is ending, Hawkins realizes the illusions of creating a new identity last only for a short while.
The themes of being true to yourself and forgetting what others say are evident, especially in the scene where Hawkins and Avery try to get their best friends to speak to one another. Not to mention, it’s one of the main recurring ideas in the movie. During this point in the movie, a musical number was not only predictable, but also provided a summer vibe by having all the campers included in the dance number.
The energetic vibes the campers give off during the first time Hawkins meets them versus Hawkins meeting George for the first time foreshadowed the frequent and common motif of the truth versus reality. This is another example of how “A Week Away” has many moments of predictability.
Even though the summer camp is religious, the film gives the theme of inspiring others to live the life a person has even if it may not seem perfect. As for development of the story and how it’s portrayed, the film does an excellent job of not being overly filled with religious notions. Instead, it focuses on enjoying life and having hope even if something seems horrible at the time.
While the premise of the movie is a bit cheesy, it’s still a film filled with heartwarming and touching moments. Reminiscent of other summer films, “A Week Away” offers great life lessons to the audience, catchy musical numbers and memories of how life was pre-pandemic.
