The Descendants

[Lizhawkins]

Alexander Payne and George Clooney. Together. I gotta say, I rather fancy this...

****

Here's a link to Total Film's 4 star review of The Descendants.

****

[Zippykins1]

The accolades for Clooney are well deserved. One of his best.

[abicute5]

I found this American drama above average. If you are just going by the reviews that you may not be as enticed as you will be when you see the film. My eyes were set on George Clooney who though old still looks good.

[pulpygirl]

Alexander Payne knows how to tell stories about middle-aged men in times of emotional crisis and "The descendants" is one of them. And a very good one in my opinion. The contrasts are continuous. Bitterness and sweetness frequently change positions during the film fabricating a beautiful portrait of a family, that lives in Hawaii, a sunny place but is unhappy.

[Roba Fett]

Totally agree pulpygirl, this was very good. I love Sideways and this has a similar vibe - you can tell it's from the same director. Hawaii is a beautiful part of the world and Alexander Payne captures this very well (hard not to I guess) but he also reveals glimpses of the drabness of city life, common throughout the world, even in Oahu. Clooney is superb here, given a complex yet everyman half-absent father figure to play with, which he does with gusto. Having to balance his daughters emotions, his considerable responsibilities to his extensive family, plus his own turmoil brought on by his wfe's accident and subsequent revelation of infedility, Clooney is immense, delivering one of his strongest performances to date and a worthy rival to Dujardin for Oscars glory. If you like Payne or Clooney, or if you just like heartfelt drama with humour stirred into the mix, you'll love this. 4/5

[Lizhawkins]

I loved it. But then I've loved all Alexander Payne's stuff. And George is pretty much always fab. And the sweary kids were ace. And Sid - Sid was excellent...

Richard Dreyfus tweeted this, which made me chuckle:

"The Descendants is a wonderful film that asks us to believe that someone would ever cheat on George Clooney with Matthew Lillard."

[jaykays hat]

Very good performance from Clooney. I think that the ladies will like this film more than the men.