“The Descendants” is a film from director Alexander Payne that first came out Oscar ripe. It’s a heavy story that deals with several conflicting emotions that flow from situations that are all too real for many people. It can be a difficult film to watch at times but it can also be quite moving. I can certainly understand the reason for the Oscar buzz it received mainly due to some incredible performances. But the movie both underplays and overplays some parts of the story which for me held it back a tad.
The story follows Matt King (Clooney), a husband and father of two who lives in Hawaii. He’s a rich man who gained his wealth by being a descendant of Hawaiian royalty. He is the sole trustee of 25,000 acres of pristine virgin land on the island of Kauai. But Matt tries to stay grounded. He works as a lawyer and uses that salary to support his family while employing his father’s perspective that you should always work for your money. Matt and his cousins have entertained offers for the land. Some want to sell it to a huge group from Chicago while others want to sell to a local Kauai developer. Matt has the final say and must weigh the wishes of his family with what’s best for the community. We learn most of this in the first few minutes of the movie through expository voice-overs. In many films this could be seen as a crutch but here it works surprisingly well and gives us key elements to the story which sets up what’s to come.
But within the first few minutes of the film it’s revealed that Matt’s wife has had a serious boating accident which leaves her comatose in an intensive care unit. Things look bleak and Matt struggles to bring together his two daughters. One is the impressionable 10 year old Scottie (Amara Miller) and the other is the bitter, irreverent 17-year old Alex (Shailene Woodley). To make matters worse, Matt finds out that his wife has been cheating on him with a younger real estate agent. The story takes Matt on an emotional roller coaster as he tries to balance feelings of anger and betrayal with the reality of his wife’s current state. There is a unique complexity to the story and while there is a lot going on emotionally, Payne makes everything feel genuine and authentic.
While “The Descendants” does keep everything feeling reel, it does overplay a vital element to one of the film’s key relationships. Matt struggles and at times looks inept when it comes to parenting. This was never more clear than in his relationship with his older daughter Alex. Payne certainly portrays her as angry and rebellious but I felt he terribly overdid it. I was particularly turned off by her constant vulgarity and irreverence. Even as their relationship supposedly grows stronger, we see her or her airhead boyfriend speak to Matt as if they were drinking buddies. Woodley gives a brilliant performance but I never completely appreciated her character mainly due to some shoddy writing which kills the otherwise wonderful moments between the two. Her character never truly evolves as I had hoped.
And while it overplays that particular relationship I felt it underplayed the relationship between Matt and his wife. To be fair, we do get all the information we need and I had no trouble understanding the relationship between the two. But I couldn’t help but wish for more. We never see them together before the accident. All of the details of their marriage is brought out through conversations with neighbors and family. It’s a smart method of storytelling and I guess it worked well enough. But the nitpicker in me really would have liked to have seen more.
One of the most important lines in the movie occurs during a conversion Matt has with another character. Matt is told “Everything just happens”. This seems to be a main point that Payne tries to make with this film and we see it throughout the picture. But I couldn’t buy into that premise. I go back to Matt’s relationship with his daughter. Alex’s attitude and disrespect didn’t just happen. She is a product of her parents poor parenting. His wife’s affair didn’t just happen. Her poor decisions and lack of self-control led to the adultery. If “Everything just happens” is a main point as many have said, Payne never sold me on it.
As I mentioned, their are some fantastic performances here. Clooney is controlled and reserved and delivers one of his best performances. I’ve already mentioned the great work from Woodley but young Miller is also quite good. With the exception of the peculiarly cast Matthew Lillard, there are several brief but strong performances from actors like Robert Forster and Beau Bridges. I also loved the use of Hawaii as a location. We do get small glimpses at its island beauty but for the most part Payne treats it as a real place where people live – a community with all the same trials and troubles as any other state. The mix of uniqueness and commonality was very effective.
There is a lot to like with “The Descendants”. It deals with some weighty subject matter in a real and thoughtful way. It shows glimpses of greatness even though it’s brought back down by some poor creative direction that strips one of the more intriguing characters of much of her likability. But I found myself caring about what happened to these people. It’s strong stuff and “The Descendants” handles it all well. It’s a film with a great concept and some great moments. Unfortunately a few speed bumps in the script keep it from being a truly great film.
Keith & the Movies 
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Nice review. I liked this movie than more than you did. It was in my top 5 of 2011. I agree with you the performances were great and I was disappointed Woodley wasn’t nominated.
I remember she was nominated for the Golden Globe but not Oscar. She was very, very good.
I really loved The Descendants but I’ve adored pretty much all of Alexander Payne’s work. I appreciate your comments on two of the key relationships in the film but for me both were strengths. I liked the fact the “wife” plays a role that is developed through the interactions her husband and family have with each other and other people. I also loved the growing relationship the father has with his children, particularly mending the ties he has with Alex. I didn’t have a problem with her character and would suggest her attitude towards her father was self-inflicted rebellion more than his shortcomings as a father. I liked that this wasn’t the typical father-daughter relationship we often see and felt it developed naturally to a satisfying conclusion.
All fair points. I just felt that the movie tried to have it both ways with her character. At times it showed her as sympathetic and truly changing as a person. Other times she acted in ways that completely undid that thought. Now I understand that a perfect change would be a bit unrealistic and that’s not what I’m asking for. She just seemed a little inconsistent. It definitely wasn’t due to the performance though.
I’m not a huge fan of Clooney but I quite like this one. It’s funnier than I thought it’d be and the story’s engaging. I was impressed by Woodley and was hoping she’d get nominated. Btw, this movie inspired us to go to Hawaii last year 🙂
I recently re-watched it and made a few changes to my review based on that. But overall it left the same impression on me. Really good movie but I felt it was let down just a little in the handling of a character or two.
The story has a lot of emotional weight attached to it, allowing for us to not only laugh when it felt like we needed to, but tear-up a bit as well. I didn’t love this one as much as everybody else in the world seemed to, but it was a pleasant enough flick to warrant a definite watch. Good review Keith.
Thanks! Your sum up my thoughts nicely. Well said.
I expected to hate this film and in the end I absolutely loved it. I am a big fan of reality vs “hollywood” and this really hit the mark for me.
Lots of people really loved it. I guess I just liked it a lot. 🙂
I haven’t seen this, but I enjoyed your review! I should check it out!
It was wildly popular around awards time the year it was released. And I really liked it too. Just maybe not that much.
Hmmm, going to have to check this now.
Another sterling review, sir. I have to disagree on the rating, though. I thought this was excellently handled and it was one of my favourites of the year. I would probably have handed the Oscar to Clooney as well.
I completely respect that. I know most people adored this movie. Again, I really liked it but there were just certain things that didn’t work for me that well I guess.
Nice review man, I have been thinking about watching this one for a while now – I guess I really should just get on and watch it!
Thanks buddy! Yep give it a look. While I’m not as crazy about it as most, it’s still a really solid film.
I really dug this movie. Interesting take on the relationship with his wife and kids. I just sort of assumed he was a work obsessed go getter that had lost his way and that his wife was a terrible person. 😉
She was a pretty crappy person, no doubt!
I’m with ckckred in that I enjoyed this film a lot when it came out. Show it to my kids last year and they got into, too. More than I expected. Fine review.
Most people were crazy about it. I still think it has a few flaws in the writing but its still a really good movie.
This was one of my favorites last year. Clooney was amazing and I did not have an issue with the movie not showing the relationship his character had with his wife. It keeps you curious.
My bigger gripe dealt with the way the relationship was between father and oldest renegade daughter. The tension is strong and believable at first. But the resolution between the two never felt all that authentic.
Have seen this a couple of times, but never felt that. They bonded finding out what was going on….