Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

The Descendants (2011)

Director: Alexander Payne

Time Out rating

Average user rating

29 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Alexander Payne has shown in the likes of ‘Election’ (1999) and ‘About Schmidt’ (2002) that he finds humour no barrier to seriousness, or vice versa. Payne’s view of life is affectionate, with a hint of barb and caricature, and he takes a special interest in men in crisis and the healing power of journeys, both of which came together winningly in his last film, ‘Sideways’ (2004). Payne is also at ease among America’s richer suburbs and the folk who live there, so it’s no surprise he should be drawn to Kaui Hart Hemmings’s novel ‘The Descendants’, the tale of a likeable Hawaiian lawyer born of old money who is trying to mend a fractured family and redefine his values. It’s a warm exercise in gentle observation, modest laughs and easy compassion, but it lacks the incision to make a major impact as drama or comedy. It’s too laidback to offend or excite. A middle-of-the-road road movie.

But within this framework ‘The Descendants’ offers numerous pleasures. George Clooney is Matt King, a wealthy Hawaiian with two young daughters and a wife (Patricia Hastie) in a coma after a speedboat accident. King narrates his own story: he and his wife had been drifting apart emotionally, and he had been losing sight of his kids too. Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) is 17 and misbehaving at boarding school before her father drags her home to deal with the fallout from her mother’s accident. Meanwhile, ten-year-old Scottie (Amara Miller) is a bundle of anger and insults who alternates between bullying and being bullied at school.

Other matters are pressing. The first is a long-term issue: King must decide on behalf of his family whether to sell a large piece of land to a developer or keep it unspoilt. The second is a bolt from the blue: King’s wife was having an affair before she slipped into the coma from which the doctors say she will never recover. Together, they serve to launch King and his daughters on a healing tour of Hawaii.

Whether you buy Clooney as a family man – an unusual role for him – will affect how much you’re willing to buy ‘The Descendants’. I’m not sure he is convincing as a father of girls, even one with a lot of work to do, although he’s best when adrift and lost for words, such as in a tender nighttime scene in which he confides in his older daughter’s brash friend, Sid (Nick Krause). Much has been made of how Clooney has shed his chiselled image for this film but, bar the odd dodgy T-shirt, I can’t see it. Where Clooney and his co-stars excel, though, are in the moments between the comic set-pieces and dramatic high points, when they’re just hanging out or, in a poignant final scene, settling down to watch ‘March of the Penguins’ on the sofa.

Payne is an unobtrusive director, a filmmaker who lets the script do the walking – in this case, perhaps too much. The characterisation never feels deep enough and he struggles to rein in the comic moments so they don’t jar with the core of the story: a woman lying motionless in a hospital bed. A coma-dy is a brave goal to aim for, but it’s one that Payne just misses despite some nifty work en route.

Author: Dave Calhoun

Time Out London Issue 2162: January 26-February 1, 2012

Email Tweet Share

User reviews of this film

deec said...

Posted on Mar 10 2012 16:53 One of the better films I have watched recently. Really enjoyed the whole film. well worth 4 stars.

Report as inappropriate
Mike said...

Posted on Mar 04 2012 23:02 Wow. Another two star performance from Clooney. Though he's brilliant as vain, shallow types like Miles Massey opposite equally vain and shallow Catherine Zeta Jones in Intolerable Cruelty, the moment there's a nano-second of genuine emotion required, Clooney crumbles.
.
This film is everything you'd dread seeing in celluloid/digital form - badly written, not well acted, not particularly well shot, and unimaginative - these last two totally unforgivable given the film's supposed to be set in Hawaii. The continuity’s terrible from the outset: George hot and sweaty one moment, one second later – not. As for George’s make-up – visible mascara throughout? Who does he think he is, Cheryl Cole or Katie Price?
.
What beats me is why Clooney or the studios pay so much for PR to lobby “the Academy” so that George scrapes a nomination. The same happened last year with the merely so-so “Up In The Air” – a film saved not by Clooney’s acting, but by the brilliant Vera Fermiga.
.
Don’t waste your time. Strictly two (generous) stars.

Report as inappropriate
Dave A said...

Posted on Mar 04 2012 12:58 I went to this with my wife, expecting the worst as, like many i agree that Clooney's films generally come up a bit short. This one doesn't. It is very good in almost all respects. It is technically good, well acted and the plot and script work well. To me it deserved to win "Best Film" as it is the best that I have seen since "True Grit" (Mk II) . Easily Clooney's best film. The one question that I have is why was it necessary to have the older girl's boyfriend in the film? He added nothing to the plot and, for me, somewhat cheapened the otherwise excellent plot. His only decent contribution was getting punched by father-in-law. However, it's a small gripe - go and see this film!

Report as inappropriate
Raegana said...

Posted on Feb 29 2012 09:37 How can you not like this film?? It's not 'fluffy' at all. There is no mawkish sentimentality or airbrushed deathbed scenes.
Clooney is superb as the imperfect father. The dialogue and plot are moving, funny, cliche free and unpredictable, so for me it's not a 'middle of the road' movie. It's also far better than the off beat Rampart which Time Out gave 5 stars too?

Report as inappropriate
David said...

Posted on Feb 23 2012 23:00 Went to see this with a few questions: is it that good, is Clooney finally brilliant in a film. Having seen it, its a chore of a watch. The first 45 minutes isnt that bad and you do feel a sympathy for him in that he really has no idea how to be the man he wants to be. However the sentimentality and frankly unbelieveable series of events that take you to the end made me just shake my head in disbelief. I felt the girl that played Alexandra did well in her role as a pseudo-mother figure. But Clooney? His films just leave you with a hollow feeling. There were tidbits that I felt oh use that, and then it went back to this conceited death run. Everyone experiences loss and knows how it feels. This film didnt leave me with that. Just a loss of time.

Report as inappropriate
blib said...

Posted on Feb 21 2012 05:24 Had a feel of "table for five" for me, in as much as similarly, I wanted to throw myself under a bus when it finished.

Report as inappropriate
Christopher Jackson said...

Posted on Feb 20 2012 10:51 much better than i expected and funny though i seemed to be one of few in ceinema who laughed, i wonder why?

Report as inappropriate
megan batson said...

Posted on Feb 16 2012 16:30 what rating is this ?

Report as inappropriate
Peter Ludbrook said...

Posted on Feb 16 2012 10:40 I enjoyed the easygoing pace of this film. It gave time for character developement. It was quite clear at the beginning that the Clooney character was a pretty inadequate father but adversity changed him to the extent that there is a wonderful scene where his older daughter defends him. Fine acting from all concerned and a good script. Perhaps it does resonate more with those of us who have suffered the loss of a loved one and been left with children to nurture. But I would have thought that it would take a hard heart not to be touched by two scenes in particular. One where the news that mother will die is conveyed to the youngest daughter and the other where the grumpy grandfather says goodbye to his daughter. Both scenes are done without audible dialogue which makes them even more powerful, something silent film makers well understood. A lovely film that I'm glad to have seen.

Report as inappropriate
dewi said...

Posted on Feb 14 2012 11:06 Oldman? Maybe but the best performance by a mile was Jean Dujardin's in 'The Artist'. This film should get all the major Oscars- Best Film, Best Actor, Best Original Screenplay, Best Music. However it's the Oscars- it's political- where 'should' is very often not 'will'....

Report as inappropriate
scrumpyjack said...

Posted on Feb 09 2012 22:38 Nice enough, but when Clooney snatches the Oscar from Oldman...this will be mainly remembered as "that film where they gave the Oscar to CLEARLY the wrong fella" 7/10

Report as inappropriate
DEWI said...

Posted on Feb 09 2012 14:22 P.S. Worth watching for Clooney's running action/technique which was very very funny! Unfortunately I'm no oil painting but, hell, I can run better than him (or should I say his character!) It even upstages Ricky Gervais's dancing ! Forget the Olympics, Mr Clooney!!

Report as inappropriate
DEWI said...

Posted on Feb 09 2012 14:15 The script/story is good but not great.Clooney/cast is good but not great. In short, the film is good but not great.It has very good moments, touching, emotional and comedic but it does not quite reach the heights of the director's masterpiece 'Sideways'. Doubt if it'll remain in my thoughts for more than a few days, unlike 'The Artist'. However , well-worth seeing.

Report as inappropriate
Claude said...

Posted on Feb 08 2012 12:30 Sheer enjoyment. As long as you buy into Clooney as the repenting family man this film exemplifies cinema at its best. We are voyeurs in a story of interwined issues, so little happens in the story yet so much meaning. Life is all about these nearly ordinary events (people dying; families not communicating; love lost and found). Through the lens of someone else's story we see our own lives.

Report as inappropriate
janku said...

Posted on Feb 05 2012 20:20 Having read the reviews, I had mixed feelings about going to see this movie, but my friend and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The performances were convincing and the scenery of Hawaii simply gorgeous.

Report as inappropriate