George Clooney plays a real estate lawyer in Hawaii who is dealing with two crises. Clooney’s wife is in a coma from a boating accident. Clooney, an absentee father, has to deal with his two precocious daughters: one 17, the other 10. The second problem involves a family trust that’s worth $500 million in virgin land. Clooney is the Executor and his family is pressuring him to sell. The Descendants turns into a bit of a road movie as Clooney takes his daughters on a journey to discover some family secrets. The couple we viewed the movie with were disappointed that The Descendants wasn’t funnier. Yes, there are moments of humor, but Clooney’s character finds himself grappling with the past and the future. Those kinds of serious struggles rarely produce giggles. GRADE: B+
It was this or J. Edgar last night and I wished we had chosen this. J. Edgar was pretty awful. Mostly about makeup.
I’ve read some very mixed reviews of J. EDGAR, Patti. I’ll probably see it at some point, but right now HUGO, THE MUPPET MOVIE, and that Marilyn Monroe film hold more interest for us.
Jackie really wants to see this one and if it’s this or J. Edgar, it’s a no brainer for me.
Patti Abbott didn’t much like J. EDGAR, Jeff. We liked THE DESCENDANTS but it’s definitely not a comedy.
“The Descendants” is a great movie, without a doubt. But given the mix of golden globe and Oscar buzz I expected way more.
The storyline and the premise of the movie is perfect. In fact, the tagline caught my attention enormously: “trying to reconnect with daughters.” That is exactly the type of movie I like. Instantly, I could tell this was a movie about character development and human connection, usually the type of movies with the greatest potential.
Unfortunately, it was merely decent, although not special. It felt like the movie built up a lot potential, but failed to release it at a certain point within movie. The entire movie, for me, felt too introductory in nature. Not necessarily the plot, because the plot does evolve, but the overall “feel” of the movie felt preliminary to a bigger and more dramatic event which never happened.
It’s tough to explain my feelings towards the movie because the fault wasn’t necessarily technical or specific. But it did linger around and distracted my viewing somewhat. I felt like there was still more to explore in both Clooney’s character and the character of his daughters. Also, I think this element alone impacted on Clooney’s performance. His performance was good, definitely, but again, because I felt like there was more to be explored, naturally, I also felt like his performance could have been added to (but not necessarily improved).
Given the Oscar buzz of this movie, I have to compare it to other movies of a similar nature. And unfortunately, I didn’t feel like there was sufficient connection between the characters…although the potential to reach that connection was established, it was not acted upon in my opinion. Unfortunately I have to say there have been better developed “re-establishing connection” movies.
All in all, this is an enjoyable movie, but it is missing some important elements which deteriorates the viewing experience to some extent.
Have a great day!
Debbie
There was a field of solid movies nominated for BEST PICTURE, Debbie. But no stand-outs. THE DESCENDANTS had some good performances, but the plot of the movie was conventional and predictable. I think THE ARTIST won BEST PICTURE because it was different.