"Are we fuckups?" Verona asks Burt. Now approaching their mid-30s, Verona (Maya Rudolph) and Burt (John Krasinski) probably wouldn't be fretting over their shoddy home or their unfulfilling jobs if they weren't about to have their first child. Burt's parents (the indispensable duo of Catherine O'Hara and Jeff Daniels) kept them tethered to Colorado, but now that they've announced plans to move to Belgium, Verona and Burt find themselves without a ready support system when they most need it. That's when they decide to hit the road in search of a place to drop roots for their blossoming family, and "Away We Go," to encounter even bigger fuckups.

First it's to Arizona, where Verona's annoying former co-worker Allison Janney squawks about her once-glorious "jugs" and castrates her husband. Then we're off to Wisconsin to see Burt's longtime friend Maggie Gyllenhaal, a self-important hippie who rejects strollers because she wouldn't dream of pushing her children away from her. Stops to visit college friends in Montreal and Burt's brother in Florida are more bittersweet than broad, featuring individuals struggling to prevent tragedy from defining their lives. But the screenplay, by acclaimed novelists Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, paints all its characters save Verona and Burt with the most condescending of strokes, inviting us to feel superior to everyday people living the best way they know how.

In sharp contrast to the usual weightiness from Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes (he filmed this during the editing process of the very different "Revolutionary Road"), "Away We Go" is that rare piece of art that might make you want to choke someone out of frustration. Mendes elicits lovely performances from his well-matched leads - Rudolph is revelatory in a rare dramatic role - but the script's smug hipster quirkiness overshadows its inherent truths about love and commitment, at once scary and beautiful.