Away We Go stars John Krasinki and Maya Rudolph as a thirtysomething couple on the cusp of having their first child together, teetering between a time when their own intelligence and self-sufficiency were enough to keep them happy and one when the looming prospect of raising a child has cast a shadow of uncertainty over everything. They embark on an impromptu road trip to find a suitable home to raise their child in, visiting friends and family members along the way who all invariably turn out to be dysfunctional in some way.

Sam Mendes’ fifth feature film is an interesting departure from his earlier work. Tonally and thematically, everything has been scaled back, resulting in a story that is much smaller than his usual fare. Perhaps as a result, he employs a softer stroke than he has in the past, allowing the story and characters to define the film while keeping any overt signs of his directing out of the spotlight (as opposed to, say, the stylish Road to Perdition). While this is an interesting bit of growth from Mendes, it does put more pressure on those factors — the story and the characters — to carry the film. It comes as no surprise, then, that it is in those elements that we see the film’s biggest weaknesses and greatest strengths.

Led by Krasinski and Rudolph, the film is filled with a cast of characters defined by their extremes. Krasinki’s Burt and Rudolph’s Verona are rather quirky themselves, but they seem downright normal when compared to the rest of the people they meet on their road trip. Every friend or family member they visit is hounded by some glaring flaw, whether it be Allison Janney’s crazy and tactless Lily or Maggie Gyllenhaal’s woefully pretentious “LN” (because “Ellen” apparently wasn’t good enough). While certainly entertaining to watch, these characters end up forcing the film into a distorted version of the world, where any semblance of normalcy is buried beneath a suffocating quilt of quirkiness. This distracts the film from its few powerful scenes of real human drama, adding a sticky sheen of preciousness that may turn some viewers off.

However, the strength of the two leads more than makes up for the excessive extremism of the other characters, grounding the audience in a believable and likable couple that we want to stay with through all of the offbeat wackiness. Krasinski shows the first real signs of range that I’ve seen from him, and his goofy optimism is a major driving force of the film. Rudolph is the true revelation of this movie, though, turning in a stellar performance in bringing a complex and richly nuanced character to life.

The story, though ultimately satisfying, is an uneven one. Real-life couple and novellists Dave Eggers and Venela Vida wrote the script, and their literary pedigree is readily apparent in the structure and style of the film. Broken up into episodic sections based in different cities, the film feels slightly disjointed, and the transitions sometimes feel forced. The segue into the Miami section, for example, comes completely out of left field. One can see how this kind of pacing, and indeed the eccentric cast of characters as well, would fit neatly into a novel. On the screen, however, some of the cracks really show through, creating an awkward sense of imbalance.

Despite these flaws, though, the film still manages to be a very entertaining and often poignant study of the relationship between two vividly textured characters. Their fears of failing as parents and hopes for giving their child a good life are explored in imaginative and touching ways (including antics involving a baby heart monitor and some soul-baring conversations) that feel decidedly genuine despite the quick quips and odd ticks of the characters. Eggers and Vida have imbued the story with plenty of humor and some truly real moments of human introspection. Mendes uses a deft hand to weave it all together, and a special note should also be made of Alexi Murdoch’s gentle but vivacious score (or is it considered more of a soundtrack here?).

Sure, Away We Go has ample of amounts of idiosyncratic precociousness. It’s too smart at times, too apparently smug at others, but in the end, its tale of two people finding some semblance or hope of peace in an uncertain future is a romantic vision without being overly sentimental and a captivating examination of a distinctly American spirit. At its best, it is noble. It’s an intensely intimate study of two people, and through the strength of Krasinki and Rudolph’s performances, it succeeds as a simple but at-times profound take on what it means to be a good person, or more importantly, a good parent.

Tags: Allison Janney, Away We Go, Dave Eggers, John Krasinski, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Maya Rudolph, Sam Mendes, Vendela Vida