CASEY PHILLIPS: "Away We Go" is the best movie I've seen all year. Director Sam Mendes has crafted a film that is funny and touching with a distinct personality courtesy and an enormous crew of supporting characters.

At first blush, I didn't expect Rudolph and Krasinski to be able to have any chemistry, but by the credits, I was applauding the casting crew. Their interactions lack romantic flare but make up for it by being genuine and a bit awkward. Instead of smoldering, "Away" highlights the intimacy and reassurance of the casual touch.

HOLLY LEBER: The film was written by married novelists Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, reportedly when pregnant with their first child. It's a rare film romance. Most movie love stories are about boy getting girl/losing girl/getting girl back. Burt and Verona are fully together, in love flawed, scared, searching. They don't have all the answers and they don't always say the right thing. When Verona frets about feeling unattractive in her pregnancy, Burt assures her that he'll always love her, no matter what size she is. Then he says something no man should ever say to a woman. He's no Prince Charming, but he loves her completely, imperfectly and beautifully.

CASEY: What's most impressive is that Rudolph and Krasinski are still memorable in the face of the supporting characters who feature in the movie's numerous vignettes.

The list of standout roles is too long to mention here but includes Catherine O'Hara and Jeff Daniels as Burt's Belgium-bound parents and Allison Janney and Jim Gaffigan as Verona's unhinged former boss and her henpecked husband.

By far the best surprise was Maggie Gyllenhaal. She plays L.N., Burt's "cousin" who has an irrational hatred of strollers and embraces disturbing New Age practices like toddler-age breast feeding and the family bed. It may be the best cameo since Tom Cruise crashed "Tropic Thunder."

HOLLY: Some of the supporting characters may have become caricatures if the movie was about them, but in small doses, they add the outwardly comedic elements that keep the movie from being too heartfelt and indie-sincere, particularly set to the heartfelt, indie-sincere music of singer-songwriter Alexi Murdoch. Mendes also revisits his theme of a perfect on the outside, but crumbling on the inside family with Melanie Lynskey and Chris Messina as Burt and Verona's college friends. The supporting characters show they're better off than they know.

There are some flaws in logic, like how they both happen to have careers that allow them to just up and go at whim, but the movie is so lovely, all that practical stuff fades into the recesses of the mind.

CASEY: Mendes is one of my favorite directors because of how he cuts through to the romantic quick. His character-driven films may not always be glamorous, but they shine nonetheless. "Away We Go" is no exception.

HOLLY: What I loved about "Away We Go" was that it isn't about two people who figure it all out. It's about two people who can only promise they're in it together.

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