The Descendants

Something bugged me about The Descendants.  All throughout the movie I kept feeling like there was just something a little off about what I was watching.  And then it hit me.  George Clooney should not have been in this movie.  It seemed to me like The Descendants was written to be a slightly quirky but emotional and endearing indie movie, and Clooney to me simply carried too much gravitas/seriousness for it.  It made the more dramatic moments all the more compelling, cause those are Clooney's bread and butter, but the lighter elements that it was trying to convey simply weren't there.

Let me backtrack.  The Descendants is about Matt King (Clooney), a man who is soon to face a decision about what to do with a giant plot of untouched land in Hawaii that he and his family own through a trust.  As the trust is set to expire in 7 years, all the cousins and uncles decide to get together and sell it.  However, different factions have arisen as to who to sell it to, or whether it should be sold at all.  Matt is the sole trustee, and as such has the final say, but promises to uphold whatever the family votes on in a couple days.  Meanwhile, Matt's wife has gotten into a boating accident and has lapsed into a coma, leaving him to do the parenting for his younger daughter Scottie, which he obviously hasn't done much of.  Soon enough it becomes clear that his wife isn't going to make it, which leads him to retrieve his troubled teenage daughter Alex from a private school.  And so it goes that Matt ends up on a quest with his two daughters (and Alex's airhead boyfriend) to unite friends and family, sort out a troublesome realization about his wife, say goodbye, and become a better father along the way.

When this movie hits its slower, dramatic, quiet moments, it shines.  Clooney's grace and experience shine through and really show off an ordinary man beset by troubling situations.  It's in all the other moments that it seems to fall a little flat.  There are plenty of amusing situations, but with Clooney's presence they're all treated with an edge of drama that dampened them.  The only truly funny bit that stood out to me was Robert Forster as Clooney's father-in-law telling the airhead boyfriend "I'm going to hit you," and then smacking him right in the nose.  Which also brings me to the airhead boyfriend, who in a typical indie movie would be providing quirky one-liners and comic relief, but was frankly written and acted poorly to the point where when he was gone in the last couple scenes I breathed a sigh of relief.  The same went for the barely developed younger daughter Scottie, who practically disappears into the background once Alex shows up.  Then there's the medley of cousins and relatives involved in the land sale who again could've added some much needed spirit but instead pretty much only show up to remind us about the sale and then disappear.

As much criticism as I have for this movie, I did enjoy it.  It just felt like it was out of its element.  It was trying too hard to be a serious drama in place of the quirky indie movie it should've been.  Admittedly going that route is probably what earned it the Best Picture nod, but I just can't help but feel that with a lesser known lead and more emphasis on the quirky bits, this really could've been something special.  Instead, it's just kind of average.

The Descendants gets an 8/10.