The Descendants

The Descendants is Alexander Payne's first full length film since 2004's Sideways. It is the tale of Matt King (George Clooney), Hawaiian landowner and descendant of the original royalty, having to come to terms with his wife being in a coma, needing to take a more hands on approach to parenting his two daughters and learning that prior to the coma his wife was having an affair. On top of this he also has a decision to make on behalf of his extended family about who (if anybody) to sell a huge bit of untouched Hawaii real estate to.

As in his previous movies (Sideways, About Schmidt and to a lesser extent Election), Payne takes complex human situations and mines them for both pathos and humour, the humour sometimes straying into the apparrently inappropriate but nonetheless funny - the scene where King and his oldest daughter verbally disect his wife's lover (a surprisingly good Matthew Lillard) whilst standing in front of him is one standout. Here, this is also combined with a strong sense of place, giving the audience a real feel for Hawaii (even if the music does begin to get irritating after a while). The story goes to some rather predictable places (the ultimate decision about the land-sale) and some unpredictable ones, but ultimately that's not really the point. It's the humanity of the characters and very real emotions they face - even the most apparrently shallow (Nick Krause's Sid coming across rather like Keanu Reeves in Bill and Ted mode) get moments that reveal another side.

Here Payne is aided by some stunning performances. Clooney has gathered all the praise and he's on note perfect form here (although maybe not career best) from the comedy running to the moments of real feeling. As he gets older, the comparisons with the likes of Cary Grant become more telling - it's a great performance and yet you never forget that you're watching Clooney, but really that doesn't matter. The really amazing thing is that someone who you never forget is such a big star can still make a millionaire into an everyman hero and that's what puts Clooney in a class almost by himself and where the Grant comparisons are so valid. For my money, he was better in both Syriana  and Up in the Air than he is here, but still deserves the Oscar nom (although either Oldman or Dujardin would be worthier winners for me).

The buzz around Clooney has also distracted somewhat from two amazing performances by the young actresses playing his daughters. Shailene Woodley (as the older Alex) is particularly good and is clearly a name to watch for the future.

Overall - 8/10 Intelligent, heartfelt and funny. Payne and Clooney combine well to make this well worth watching.