From Alexander Payne, the creator of the Oscar-winning SIDEWAYS, set in Hawaii, THE DESCENDANTS is a sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic journey for Matt King (George Clooney) an indifferent husband and father of two girls, who is forced to re-examine his past and embrace his future when his wife suffers a boating accident off of Waikiki. The event leads to a rapprochement with his young daughters while Matt wrestles with a decision to sell the family’s land handed down from Hawaiian royalty and missionaries.
The Descendants is one movie I’d love to watch again… and include to my DVD collection.
Although the story is something I don’t want to experience myself, I keep asking myself how I could handle the situation of Matt King if something like that happens to me. How can you forgive someone you wanted to hate?
The Descendants is a family drama with way too much family drama – a comatose cheating wife, a troubled daughter, a clueless father – a totally dysfunctional family. But if you watch it, you will love how this family survive everything that happened to them. I admit to shedding tears to some scenes especially when Matt King finally discovered that his wife cheated on him way before the incident and when they finally decided what they need to do to with his comatose wife (played by Patricia Hastie).
The Descendants is a well-acted dramatic comedy that is deeply satisfying watch. George Clooney gave his finest acting and his kids played by Shailene Woodley (Alexandra King) and Amara Miller (Scottie King). Would also give credits to Nick Krause for playing the annoying but cute boyfriend of Alexandra King.
Alexander Payne’s “The Descendants” is easily one of the best films of the year. The script is witty and poignant, filled with brilliant dialogue and great character development.
