The Descendants (2011)
Directed by: Alexander Payne
Matt (George Clooney) is a Hawaiian lawyer and, through inheritance, the sole trustee of a 25,000 acre estate, which will shortly be sold. After a water-skiing accident leaves his wife in a coma, Matt must hold himself and his family together, meet the competing demands of relatives, islanders and conscience in disposing of the land – and find a way of coming to terms with the revelation that his wife was having an affair.
The Descendants portrays a man who used to have everything gradually losing his ability to select which movies to appear in. “Choose carefully”, the audience cries, “for that way lies Robin Williams.”
Despite its sombre premise, The Descendants is a comedy and not wholly bad – it sticks with some character-based running gags long enough for them to become funny. But it is horribly sentimental, has an overly coincidence-driven plot, and relies on some of its supporting characters suddenly becoming nicer/better/smarter people in ways that seem unlikely.
listen, i think we ought to get something straight here: if a movie features george clooney, it automatically receives at least three stars.
this is not negotiable.
horribly schmoopy or not, it’s The Cloon. show some respect.
Ah, the legend of the Sacerdotal Cloon. But if he turns into a sacred cow (or sacrum bovem, in deference to both his gender and his fondness for Italy) then we’ll just find ourselves watching more and more movies like this. Non-negotiability rejected. Sorry.