Movie Review: The Descendants

Directed by Alexander Payne

Starring: George Clooney, Shailene Woodley

Summary: Although the subject matter sounds like something out of a “Lifetime Original Movie,” the understated direction and some great performance help make The Descendants an entertaining and emotional family drama.

Synopsis: Matt King is a wealthy Hawaiian lawyer, who owns the last bit of pristine Hawaiian land, finds his wife in a coma after a boating accident. As he tries to take care of his two daughters and make a deal to sell the land, he learns that before her accident, his wife had been having an affair.

My rating: 8/10

Review: "The Descendants" kind of reminded me of another film I really enjoyed this past year, "50/50," in that this one could have also easily become very melodramatic and manipulative, but managed to stay subtle, yet emotional and funny, although not in the “laugh out loud” way that "50/50" was.

While that movie’s strength was mostly in the screenplay, as well as Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s performance, I’d say that "The Descendants’"  strength is mostly the understated direction from Alexander Payne. As if the wife being in a coma (and likely to die) wasn’t enough, poor Matt King (George Clooney) also has to deal with learning she had an affair, taking care of his two rebellious daughters, and trying to sell a huge piece of land. Despite the multiple heavy plot-lines, the direction remains—forgive my lack of technical terms here—very chill. There were also plenty of very picturesque shots of Hawaii, that seemed to contrast all the depressing stuff that’s going on in this film. I did feel that the plot about the land could have used a bit more attention, as it seemed to just come up at the beginning, then didn’t get too much mention until that last 30 minutes or so. And while I appreciated the breezy direction, it did get a bit slow towards the very end.

The film is topped off by some great performances, especially from Clooney and Shailene Woodley, who plays Matt’s daughter, Alex. I know a lot of people complain that Clooney “always plays himself,” but either way, I still like him. It was a nice change of pace to see him playing a regular old dad, and this was one of his best performances. Woodley was also wonderful as Matt’s rebellious daughter, and I thought she and Clooney had very good chemistry.

To sum up, "The Descendants" is an interesting film about how messed up and unpredictable life can be that still shows the importance of being there for your family. It manages to stay emotional without being overly dramatic, and I have to admit it did get a couple tears out of me. If you think you'll be OK with the sad story and slow pacing, this one is definitely worth a watch. It's already won the Golden Globe for best drama, and I won't be surprised if it takes home a few Oscars next weekend, so I'd say try and see this one