"Alexander Payne’s latest offering The Descendants is based on the book by Kaui Hart Hemmings who wrote it aged 28, whilst living in San Francisco as a full time mum. It is another opportunity for us to admire Payne’s skill at portraying middle-aged men trying to cope with a mid life crisis badly. In some cases the characters in his films have crises of their own making, such as Sidewaysand About Schmidt, but in this film the opening scene of a mother being injured in a boating accident changes the lives of everyone connected with her. Payne’s dark humour and acerbic observations of middle aged men has never been better portrayed than George Clooney as Matt King, the central character of the story. The film has already won two Golden Globe Awards, won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as well as having four other nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor for Clooney." ~Thinking faith
General Movie Info: Genre: Drama, Comedy Plot: A wealthy Hawaiian land owner's wife is injured in an accident leaving him to care for his two daughters alone. Rated: R
My Thoughts:
The movie was well acted acted but the plot had too many layers for my tastes. Listed as a comedy/drama but is way more of a drama than a comedy. If it had more of a comedic twist, the many layers to the plot could have provided funny moments but it wasn't that kind of movie. The movie was good but not great. This George Clooney film is one to watch with the wife not the guys.
