Away We Go

The pedigree on this one is impressive: Sam Mendes (‘‘American Beauty’’) directing, co-scripter and cult novelist Dave Eggers writing, John Krasinski (‘‘The Office’’) and Maya Rudolph (‘‘SNL’’) starring as a shaggy young couple expecting their first child and crossing America in search of meaning and a manger. The movie promises some actual substance amid the sweet shallowness of a Hollywood summer.

— Wesley Morris and Ty Burr, Globe Staff