I heard a lot of great things about the film and I couldn’t wait to see it.
I heard the terms “witty” and “humorous” used to describe the film, as well as the word “tragic”. I’m leaning towards tragic. For me I would put The Descendants in the same category as Terms of Endearment, Steel Magnolias and Kramer vs. Kramer. It was not only tragic but also very depressing. There may have been a brief moment or two where there was an attempt at levity, but not enough for me to use the terms “witty” and “humorous” to describe the film.
The Descendants stars George Clooney as Matt King. He resides in “paradise” (Hawaii) and works long hours as a Real Estate lawyer. He also oversees a large plot of land that was handed down from generation to generation within his family. The descendants who own the land include Matt and many cousins, aunts and uncles.
Matt considers himself a “back up parent”. His wife, Elizabeth, is a free spirited, strong willed woman. She raised their daughters, Alexandra and Scottie while Matt worked hard at his law firm.
Things go from bad to worst when the doctor’s tell Matt that Elizabeth will never recover, and as per her living will, in the event something like this happened she wanted to be removed from life support.
Matt doesn’t have time to grieve. He has two daughters to think about. His eldest daughter, Alex, has a major chip on her shoulder and has turned to drinking and getting out of control. Scottie seems like a normal child, but she has a mouth like a truck driver.
When Matt finally confronts Alex about her out of control behavior she drops a bomb on him – she caught her mother cheating.
Matt now has a lot of his plate. He has to try and reconnect with his daughters, wait for his wife to slowly pass away, deal with his father in law who blames him for Elizabeth’s accident and trying to learn more about the man his wife was cheating with.
Here is the movie’s trailer. If you are reading this via e-mail you can find the trailer here, http://bit.ly/GH89BX.
The Descendants is rated R. Aside from the deep subject matter (death, infidelity) the only thing I can think of to give it this rating is that there was a lot of cursing, especially from the daughters.
If you are looking for a movie to tug at your heart strings, then The Decendants it the movie for you.
Bonus features on the DVD include Everybody Love George where the cast and crew talk about George Clooney and his comical behavior and practical jokes. Also included is Working With Alexander and Hawaiian Style. Hawaiian Style features the cast and crew talking about what it was like to work in Hawaii, as well as give viewers a brief Hawaiian vocabulary lesson.
Look for The Decendants where ever movies are sold.
*I receieved a free screeer copy in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own.
Carla Anderson says
Not to be nit picky but did you mean to say Elizabeth hits her hand and falls into a coma, in your movie review?