The Descendants
Director Alexander Payne's (Election, Sideways) new film opens over sprawling landscape shots of Hawaii's scenic suburbia, accompanied by George Clooney's character, Matt King, summing up his current predicament: ''Paradise can go fuck itself.'' The reaction, unfortunately, is reasonable.
We pick up with King, an ancestor of Hawaiian royalty, in the middle of deliberations over a plot of land handed down through his family over generations. With every uncle, aunt and cosign whispering opinions into his ear, King is suddenly presented with an even greater problem: taking care of his two daughters. A boating accident leaves his wife in a coma, forcing Matt to take a true parenting role with his young, socially-troubled daughter, Scottie (Amara Miller), and his rebellious teen Alexandra (Shailene Woodley), who was previously shipped off to boarding school. Matt awkwardly hunts for the emotional glue necessary for the mismatched bunch to become ''a family,'' but matters are made even more complicated when Alex reveals that her mother was cheating on him before the accident. Murphy's Law is in full effect.
With The Descendants, Payne continues to explore and discover the inherent humor in life's melancholic situations, unfolding Matt's quest for understanding like a road movie across Hawaii's many islands. Simultaneously preparing for the end of his wife's death and searching for the identity of her lover, Matt crosses paths with a number of perfectly cast side characters who act as mirrors to his best and worst qualities: his father-in-law Scott (Robert Foster), who belittles Matt for never taking care of his daughter; Hugh (Beau Bridges), an opportunistic cousin who pressures Matt to sell the land; Alexandra's dunce of a boyfriend, Sid (Nick Krause) who always has the wrong thing to say; and Julie (Judy Greer), the wife of the adulterer in question. Colorful, yet real, Matt experiences a definitive moment with each of them, yet the picture never feels sporadic or episodic.
Clooney and Woodley help gel these sequences together, as they observe, experience and butt heads as equals. Clooney's own magnetism stands in the way of making Matt a fully dimensional character, but he shines when playing off his quick-witted daughter. His reactions are heartbreaking—but it's the moments when he has to put himself out there that never quite ring true. But the script, by Nat Faxon, Jim Rash and Payne, gives Clooney plenty of opportunities to work his magic, visualizing his struggle, as opposed to vomiting it out like so many of today's talky dramas.
The Descendants is a tender cinematic experience, an introspective and heartwarming film unafraid to convey its story with pleasing simplicity. Clooney stands out with a solid performance, but like many of Payne's films, it's the eclectic ensemble and muted backdrop that give the movie its real texture. The paradise of Descendants isn't all its cracked up to be, but for movie-goers, it's bliss.
Hollywood.com rated this film 4 stars.