Downsizing

Comedies produced today typically come in two different formats, either physical, replete with pratfalls, references to sex, and/or drugs, laced with four-letter-words, or they are powder dry involving subtlety and droll humor usually catered to the more intellectual type of audience. While "Downsizing" is of the powder dry brand, it would be interesting to see a comedy with both types of attributes, but would that even be possible?

In this sci-fi satire, scientists discover a way to shrink people down to about 5 inches tall, and hope to use the technique to build micro communities that will reduce humanity's impact on the environment. A frustrated Omaha, Nebraska resident, Paul Safranek (Matt Damon) is an occupational therapist who, with wife Audrey (Kristen Wiig) is strapped financially, so he agrees to the procedure after learning that he'll be able to afford a much more opulent lifestyle in his new micro village, but he soon discovers that his new home isn't all it's all cracked up to be. Is life all about material things and partying with friends like Dusan Mirkovic (Christoph Waltz) and Konrad (Udo Kier) constantly, or is there more to satisfy the human soul?

Others to round out the cast are Hong Chau as Ngoc Lan Tran, Rolf Lassgard as Dr. Jorgen Asjornsen, Ingjerd Egeberg as Anne-Helene Asjornsen, Rolf's wife, Jason Sudeikis as Dave Johnson, Seren Filmark as Dr. Andreas Jacobsen, Jayne Houdyshell as Paul's mother and Maribeth Monroe as Carol Johnson, Dave's wife.

This was brilliantly directed by Alexander Payne ("The Passion of Martin" '91, "Citizen Ruth" '96, "Election" '99, "About Schmidt" '02, "Sideways" '04, "The Descendants" '11, "Nebraska" '13) plus TV. Payne has this innate ability to put his characters in a place where the performances are so subtle that the less words they exude, the more these looks speak volumes. You can see this a lot: "About Schmidt", "The Descendants" and especially "Nebraska". This is an extremely complicated aspect to pull off and Payne does it with finesse. It was well written by Payne ("Jurassic Park III" '01, "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry" '07) plus the ones he directed and Jim Taylor ("Citizen Ruth" '96, "About Schmidt" '02, "Sideways" '04) plus others. Obviously these two writers do so as a team which can make the films tighter and more cohesive because they are connected, however even though this was written well academia-wise, this slowly went from this quick satire about saving money because of being financially strapped to this environmental film after approximately two-thirds into the film. Certainly the environmental aspect was equivalent to a subplot, but wasn't ever the main aspect of the film, however as the movie played out, it was almost like watching a Greenpeace documentary. Truly what makes this is the directing and the fine performances specifically by Damon, Hong Chau and Waltz.

If you're an Alexander Payne fan, you'll certainly revel with this, however if you're not used to his work, this might be a lot to swallow in keeping your attention for its a-bit-to-long running time of 135 minutes. Again, watch it for the directing, acting and its concept and originality of downsizing.

Out of 4 Stars: 3                                     Rated: R                                   135mins.