The Descendants (2011)
I feel like constantly Alexander Payne is underrated and under-appreciated by just about everyone, sure not a ton of his movies have been huge award successes but constantly his films prove to be touching and really well crafted. Even his latest outing with Downsizing was a film I liked quite a bit despite the general audience feeling a bit cold on it. Arguably his biggest awards hit, The Descendants follows a husband and father named Matt (George Clooney) who lives in Honolulu and has found himself in probably the worst week of his life. After having a bad accident while boating his wife is in a coma leaving him to care for his daughter Scottie (Amara Miller) that he struggles with. Where first this seems temporary he receives the terrible news that her coma is permanent and due to her wishes the hospital must pull her plug. This happens the same week as he is going to make a huge sale with land belonging to his family for generations. Not only does this sale have the pressure of an insane amount of money behind it but it is enough land to where this will be huge for the island of Kauai and it seems like everyone has an opinion on what he is going to do with it. As the week goes on and he connects with his family he learns some further details specifically around his relationship with his wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) that only adds more stress and worry to his already full plate. Matt looks for resolution with his turmoil and struggles to find the right thing to do.
Easily for me, the biggest standout in this film would be the screenplay written by Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash which is what the film ended up taking home an Academy Award for. The way this film is able to curate emotion and bring genuine deeper feelings to light is really impressive. The characters explored in this movie feel like real characters, they are flawed and struggling to find the right way to deal with these events and to understand what the right thing to do is in these very tough situations which connected really well with the audience. I felt the layers and depth of these characters choices and emotions and engage with the movie on the deeper emotional level that so many films struggle to reach. Though at the same time the script is witty and tons of fun. There are so many smart moments of comedy that also feel very natural and never take away from the more serious emotions present in the film. My only real flaw with the screenplay is the side plot revolving around this land that Matt has to make a decision on. It's not even that the side plot is bad or that it takes away from the rest of the movie but it just isn't that engaging and considering the ending focuses on that plot rather than him and his wife the ending does fall a bit flat. Though part of the reason that we never really engage deeply with that side plot is that the film doesn't try to which isn't a bad thing, it clearly understands that this side plot is not the main point audiences will connect with so to lessen the time we spend with it is a smart choice. I do think though that the ending would have worked better if they just switched the order of some scenes and made the ending focus on the more emotionally rich plot rather than the story about the land.
Where the screenplay does do a ton to make the plot and emotions work I also must give credit to the acting as this truly is a great cast. George Clooney gives one of the best performances of his career here with his work as Matt, the struggles he goes through while also having a fire within him is hard to pull off especially in some of the later situations his character is put in. His chemistry with Shailene Woodley who plays his older daughter Alex is also really solid with them having some great back and forth. In general, I will say that Shailene Woodley is a hugely underrated aspect of this film as she not only has one of the most interesting characters of the entire film but also one of most well-crafted performances. She had a very complicated relationship with her mother and she has a lot of anger towards her because of that though also is forced to reflect on the total picture of their relationship in order to say goodbye which had a lot of good also. She is in a very tough place and doesn't know how to think or act creating some really amazing outbursts and conversations with her character. Amara Miller is also really funny and impressive for being a younger actor, she had so much charisma and attitude behind her at such a young age that was a constant highlight. The only actor to ever stand out as being out of place would be Nick Krause who plays Alex's friend Sid. Especially as he is introduced his character seems pretty basic and odd when compared to the other deeper and more interesting characters in the film but slowly he worked his way into the group and overall was enjoyable.
Overall I was very impressed by The Descendants, Alexander Payne did not disappoint creating another movie with layered interesting characters and genuine emotion that hit me. The acting is fantastic and the dialogue is no different. Sure the side plot is a bit weaker but the only time they misuse it is at the very end of the film, other than that this movie knew what to focus on and how to build this story effectively and they nailed it.
Overall I was very impressed by The Descendants, Alexander Payne did not disappoint creating another movie with layered interesting characters and genuine emotion that hit me. The acting is fantastic and the dialogue is no different. Sure the side plot is a bit weaker but the only time they misuse it is at the very end of the film, other than that this movie knew what to focus on and how to build this story effectively and they nailed it.