Review: The Descendants

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George Clooney in The Descendants

Director Alexander Payne (Sideways, Election) has turned to Hawaii for his new movie, The Descendants. Based on the 2007 debut novel by Kaui Hart Hennings, the film is narrated by lawyer Matt King (George Clooney), who feels pulled by the past and the present at the same time.

For the present, his wife Elizabeth (a silent Patricia Hastie) is in a coma after a powerboating accident. Now Matt, who has remained fairly oblivious to his family, has to care for 10-year-old Scottie (Amara Miller) and pull 17-year-old Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) out of boarding school on the mainland. Alex admits to her father that the reason she had a falling out with Elizabeth is because she knew her mom was having an affair. King decides to find his wife's lover and tell him about her condition.

Meanwhile, King is also working on a possible land sale that will affect the whole state; he is the trustee for the thousands of acres his family has owned for hundreds of years on one of the islands. A good number of the King cousins (Beau Bridges plays one of them) want to sell to a Hawaiian developer, and Matt is leaning towards that option. There are many, many cousins, and as I recall, they all wear Hawaiian shirts.

Clooney's Matt King offers dry narration throughout the film, even while making comments about the women in his life wanting to destroy themselves. However, one of the funniest sequences is when King, ruffled by the news of his wife's affair, turns into an ungainly figure running down the road to his friend's house. His daughters -- and Alex's stoner guy friend Sid (Austinite Nick Krause) -- present a challenge for him to remain as aloof and apart as he would prefer to be. Clooney's performance is strongest in The Descendants when he has someone to play off of or react to.

Honestly, one of the best reasons to see this film is Judy Greer as Julie, the wife of Elizabeth's lover. She nails this role, far more dramatic than her usual fare, eloquently portraying the various moods and emotions that Julie goes through. I walked out of The Descendants wondering, is there anything Judy Greer can't do well? Seriously.

The score for The Descendants is exclusively Hawaiian, made up of songs from the islands. The script (co-written by Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash) blends the tragic and the comedic effortlessly, resulting in a comedy with some tragic elements. Payne's film packs an emotional punch; there are only a couple moments that tend towards maudlin, but the dark wit of the screenplay tempers them somewhat.

Austin connections: Georgetown/Austin teen actor Nick Krause has a supporting role in the movie. Over at the Austin American-Statesman, Matthew Odam has written an excellent profile of Krause.