Review: The Descendants (2011)

I am in the midst of reading Patty Smith's Just Kids, detailing in beautiful prose her long, complex relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorp and their magical bohemian days in first Brooklyn and then Manhattan among the cultural idols of the late 60s and early 70s. So maybe that explains my complete disappointment in this Alexander Payne film that has been lauded by most. The story centers on rich though frugal lawyer Matt King (George Clooney) whose wife has just had an accident and currently lies in a hospital bed in a coma. We soon learn he has two semi-troubled daughters, a marriage that was failing and a huge decision to make about a large tract of land in Kauai that his family owns. We also discover that his wife will not recover and that she was having an affair. This information is related by his older daughter Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) as they discuss the fate of the family. She is supposed to be the troubled one in the family, but beside being caught drinking the first time we meet her, hanging out with a kid with few redeeming qualities thrown in predominantly for cheap laughs and a dirty mouth, she turns out to be a pretty dutiful daughter throughout. 

The film takes off as Matt decides to find his wife's lover and, in an odd twist, "invite" him to the hospital to say goodbye . However, the adventure is not undertaken alone as he is cajoled into allowing both daughters and the boyfriend to accompany him on this sojourn as his wife lies dying. I suppose what follows is supposed to provide a sort of wry look into the despondency and existential angst of a man whose life has not turned out as he hoped (as is the case with many of Alexander Payne's other films including About Schmidt, Sideways and, more or less, Election). In the end, he comes to terms with the death of his cheating wife, forgives her for her sins and enjoys a moment on the couch watching March of the Penguins with his two daughters. 

My response as I walked out was "so what?" Has American film become so bad that this torpid mediocrity merits accolades? Has Hollywood become so trite that a middling director who appears to be telling the same story over and over again with slight variations can still be praised for a tepid effort with average acting and little plot? And do we really have to pretend that everything George Clooney does is brilliant? I think he really has grown into a substantial actor over the years, and has really shined in moody, existential films about a lonely man whose life has or is falling apart (The American, Michael Clayton, Up in the Air) or humorous, arty films where he plays a roguish sort of one kind or another (The Ocean films, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Burn After Reading, Intolerable Cruelty and Oh Brother Where Art Though).

But here he seems out of place and thus miscast. The character is not odd enough to invoke his charisma nor interesting enough to capture the depths of his talent at capturing internal pain. Woodley does do a good job as his daughter and sidekick on the adventure, though one wishes she would eat a Big Mac or three, but the rest of the cast is average at best. And Payne does little to allay my concern that he may be going the way of so many young talented directors of his generation, getting slightly worse with each effort (with Wes Anderson at the top of the list). Payne made two brilliant movies to launch his career -- Citizen Ruth and Election. Since then he has made About Schmidt, which I felt was average at best, and the entertaining but ultimately unfulfilling Sideways (while also penning Jurassic Park III and the truly awful I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry). Here he receives praise for his heartfelt character study and humorous look at the complexity of family life and grief, but a rich, parsimonious lawyer with a cheating wife and two girls who are really relatively normal fails to inspire me. I would much rather he continue along the path of the hapless loser with a heart who becomes the victim of events that surround them (Sideways and Election). It appears that is where his talent lies and where he should return. But I suppose I wouldn't be surprised if some awards went the way of this film. With so much interesting fare in the offing, as is always the case this time of year, I think there are substantially more interesting choices to entice ...