FILM REVIEW: THE DESCENDANTS

Matt King (George Clooney) in The Descendants.

Sharing his Payne

By Don Simpson

Chinos and Hawaiian shirts are normal every day attire for Honolulu lawyer, Matt King (George Clooney). Unfortunately, Matt’s life is not nearly as relaxed as his fashion sense. His wife, Elizabeth (Patti Hastie), is in a coma after a serious boating accident while Matt’s daughters, 17-year-old Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) and 10-year-old Scotty (Amara Miller), are both suffering through rebellious periods of their lives.

After prioritizing his career over his family for the last decade, Matt decides that it is prime time to buckle up and become a better husband and father. But… How? He starts by forging an alliance of sorts with Alexandra — who has been suddenly catapulted into the role of substitute mother for Scottie — which requires Matt to accept her mere-caricature-of-a-stoner-[boy]friend, Sid (Nick Krause) as more than the dumber-than-a-rock idiot he seems to be. It is a tough pill for Matt to swallow but, against all odds, he pulls it off without beating the living shit out of him.

It is not without purpose that Matt’s change of heart towards his family occurs on the eve of his decision on what to do with his family’s 25,000 acres of virgin land on the island of Kauai. Matt and his family might be a-holes, I mean “haoles” (white Hawaiians), but they are also the direct descendants of the House of Kamehameha. Matt and his family have been collecting pitches from several developers; no matter which one Matt — the sole executor of the estate — chooses, the entire family will instantaneously become unfathomably rich.

It is far too predictable what Matt finally chooses to do with the land — though would we really desire any other possible ending? Writer-director Alexander Payne opts to give the audience exactly what they want, opting to turn The Descendants into pure, unfiltered Oscar fodder. Let’s just say that I can already guarantee that my mom will love The Descendants, and not just because she thinks George Clooney is one dreamy motherfucker (my words, not her’s — my mom is a good Catholic woman, while I am obviously not a good Catholic or a woman…though I do find Clooney to be quite dreamy). Clooney’s severely understated performance as a severely undemonstrative character,  who is incredibly bland and undeniably average, is at the absolute heart of The Descendants’s appeal. As Payne did with Jack Nicholson (About Schmidt), Paul Giamatti (Sideways) and Thomas Haden Church (Sideways), he all but castrates Clooney to restrain his performance, leaving him as a mere shell of his formerly entertaining self.

FILM REVIEW: WIN WIN

Michael (Paul Giamatti) and Kyle (Alex Shaffer) in Win Win. 

Wrestling with fate

By John Esther

Powered by the best screenplay in an American film so far this year, the latest film by writer-director Tom McCarthy (Station Agent; The Visitor) tells the story of Mike Flaherty (Paul Giamatti), a family man trying to keep his life from crumbling.

A lawyer in a small New Jersey town, business has been very slow for Michael lately. Unfortunately that will not stop the bills from coming in. Backed into a corner, Michael comes across a scam that takes one his clients, Leo Poplar (Burt Young), out of Leo's house and into an old folk's home. It seems to be a rather safe gamble, but then Leo's grandson, Kyle (Alex Shaffer), unexpectedly shows up, threatening to unravel the plan, the extra money for Michael, and maybe even Michael's license to practice law.

Alex is a troubled child who does not want to go home. As opportunities to send him back are repeatedly thwarted, he slowly becomes more and more a part of Michael's family. Not only does that help Michael's plan out, Kyle is also particularly skilled in an area that may give Michael a win in another part of his life. But then Cindy (Melanie Lynskey) shows up and now Michael could lose everything.

Extremely well-crafted, what makes Win Win a champ of sorts is how it maintains the right tempo throughout the film. Gliding from one scene to the next, there is not a superfluous moment in the entire film.

Moreover, in the right hands, a script like this leads to some golden acting. Not only are the aforementioned actors wonderful, Bobby Cannavale's performance as Michael's best friend, Terry, who has an axe to grind with love, and Amy Ryan's performance as Michael's headstrong wife, Jackie, are superb. Kudos goes to the editor, Tom McArdle, as well.

A crowd pleaser of a higher order, Win Win will not be number one at the box office any weekend or galvanize anyone into political action, but it sure does make for a fine time at the movies.