The Descendents

George Clooney is kind of a hit and miss for me; maybe it's the projects he chooses, however not one of my faves. But with the recent "The Descendents", he really excelled well here. He has done other worthy films, such as "Good Night, and Good Luck", "Syriana" and "Up in the Air", but he simply shined in this.

With his wife, Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) on life support after a boating accident, native Hawaiian islander land baron, Matt King (Clooney), takes his daughters, Alexandra and Scottie (Shailene Woodley and Amara Miller) along with Alexandra's friend, Sid (Nick Krause) on a trip from Oahu to Kauai to confront the young real estate broker, Brian Speer (Matthew Lillard), who was having an affair with Elizabeth before her misfortune.

Others to round out the cast are Beau Bridges as Cousin Hugh, Judy Greer as Julie Speer, Brian's wife, Matt Corboy as Cousin Ralph, Matt Esecson as Cousin Hal, Michael Ontkean as Cousin Milo, and Mary Birdsong and Rob Huebel as Kai and Mark Mitchell, Matt and Elizabeth's friends.

It was directed with incredible detail by Alexander Payne ("The Passion of Martin" '91, "Citizen Ruth" '96, "Election"'99, "About Schmidt" '02, "Sideways" '04). It was written by Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash. What makes this script is not the plot necessarily, but how the plot is treated. It's basically about infidelity, but the slant is one of the people is now in a coma and the one that was cheated on inadvertently found out she was cheating and now is bound and determined to find the other man perhaps for morbid curiosity, not sure. This change on an old plot idea makes it quirky and very different.

If you liked "About Schmidt" and "Sideways" you'll like this. Of course, Payne also involved with these films, makes them similar in many ways. The one difference in this and Schmidt and Sideways is that "The Descendents" is a drama with comedic overtones, whereas the other two films were both basically dramedies. Payne has definitely hit the nail on the head when it comes to bringing the dysfunction out in his characters. The only other filmakers that are as talented in this arena are the Coen Brothers, which are about as quirky in their filmaking. This is not a film for all audiences in that the comedy, when presented, is extremely subtle, so don't look for a film you can hardily laugh at, instead look for a film you can sink your teeth into for its pure quality.

Out of 4 stars: 4                      Rated: R                           115min.