Review: The Descendants

By Sean Knight

3 out of 4 Stars ***

            It’s been seven years since the 2004 release of Alexander Payne’s highly acclaimed film, Sideways.  Many thought, at the time, that it was deserving of the Academy Award for Best Picture.  I wasn’t as taken with the film as many were, but in retrospect it was certainly a more deserving picture than the winner, Million Dollar Baby.  Many in the industry are touting Payne’s latest, The Descendants, as a serious awards contender, with some even claiming it as a frontrunner for Best Picture.  And again I find myself in the position of the minority on the film.  The Descendants has some wonderful insights into the human condition and often time tense character driven scenes play out quite differently than how you would imagine. That has always been Payne’s gift as a director.  But the film has no narrative pull and its humor often comes at the price of making people look like caricatures instead well-rounded human beings.

            George Clooney plays Matt King whose wife is in a coma due to a boating accident and is now in charge of raising his two daughters.  He is also the trustee of his family’s ancestral Hawaiian land, which is up for sale.  King learns from his oldest daughter, Alexandra (played by Shailene Woodley), that his wife was having an affair with a local real estate agent at the time of her accident.  This sends King’s life into a downward spiral as her tries to deal with his wife’s inevitable passing, while still brokering the deal on his family’s land sale.  Clooney is wonderful in the role of Matt King.  He uses his movie star charisma to draw the audience in and make this distant family man relatable.  But he also fully inhabits the character and you begin to see a normal man dealing with an extraordinary set of circumstances.  He is particularly effective in every scene with Woodley as they have a believable father and daughter dynamic.  Woodley damn near steals the film out from Clooney on more than one occasion as you begin to truly sympathize with this troubled teen.  Robert Forster provides a brief, but powerful performance as Matt’s father in law and Judy Greer has a beautiful fragility about her as the wife of the cheating real estate agent.  Mathew Lillard does pop up briefly as the real estate agent and his scene is one of the more surprising moments of the film.

            While much of the acting is of the highest caliber it does not have a clear-cut narrative to drive it home.  The Descendants meanders from one scene to the next and often times wallows in its emotions.  This does give the film a few surprises, as you are not sure where it’s going to go, but there is always a sneaking suspicion that it isn’t going to go much of anywhere.  The subplot about the King family land also seems forced and doesn't add any stakes to the overall drama of the picture.  Matt King spends much of the film chasing after his wife’s lover with no real intention other than to meet the bastard.  And then you have the inclusion of Alexandra’s boyfriend Sid who provides much of the comic relief, but does not come off as a real character.  In fact, many of the character’s annoyance with him get reflected into the audience.  He is a distraction to the real heartbreak being felt by King and his family.  It’s as if Payne didn’t trust his audience to stay with him through all the highs and lows of the story, so he put in the obligatory Hollywood comic relief.  It doesn’t do him or the picture any good.

            The setting of the film also becomes a bit of a problem.  King starts off the story by stating that even in Hawaii people have problems and it’s not all sunshine and sand.  Unfortunately, Payne sets many of his scenes in sunshine and sand.  I find it hard to feel bad for a family that is about to make millions of dollars off of a land deal and have the ability to fly from tropical island to tropical island in order to escape, or in this case chase after, their problems.  Perhaps it’s just the mindset of the country right now, but a story about a man with a lot of money, who lives in Hawaii, who’s wife is cheating on him is just not all that compelling or relevant.  Trouble in paradise is bullshit.

            I’m sure that The Descendants will get a lot of awards love towards the end of the year and it will not be wholly unwarranted.  The acting is far superior to the material at hand and Payne’s insights into the human condition remain fresh.  But The Descendants lacks the cynicism and wit that made Sideways so spectacular.  It also fails to find humor in the outlandish in quite the same way that Payne’s About Schmidt did.  Still, it would be a shame to write the film off completely due to some exciting performances that are not to be missed.  The Descendants is a lesser Payne effort, but still well intentioned enough to give a mild recommendation if not quite a ringing endorsement.

The Descendants
Directed by Alexander Payne
Release Date: November 18, 2011
Runtime: 115 Mins