Review: The Descendants

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Now what?

Matt King (George Clooney) is a lawyer and the trustee of a large chunk of land on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai. While he's making the difficult decision on who to sell it too, he suffers a personal blow much greater: His wife has been in a boating accident, and will never come out of the coma it has put her in. This leaves Matt to raise his two daughters, the bad girl Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) and the middle finger loving Scottie. (Amara Miller) on his own. Matt knows that Alexandra and her mother fought about something before her accident, and he encourages her to let it go. But she can't. You see, his wife had been cheating on him. Matt had no idea, now he's trying to find the man that his wife was in love with.

The Descendants at first felt a lot like Up In The Air, which I loved, so I didn't mind. It eventually morphed into it's own movie. I've never been on the Clooney bandwagon, but after Up In The Air I started to take more notice, and after this film, I'm firmly on board. I thought Clooney was tremendous as a grieving father with some tough choices to make. I was also very impressed with Woodley, who I've only seen in passing on her show The Secret Life. I enjoyed the classic Hawaiian music they played through out, and of course the beautiful scenery. The story was fantastic, instead of being the revenge flick that it very well could be, it's endearing and even a tear jerker. Small parts by Judy Greer and Matthew Lillard were a nice touch as well.

The Descendants is by far one of the best films I've seen all year.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: A

Memorable Quote: "Why did you tell me in the pool!?" - Alexandra (Shailene Woodley)

Comments

  1. Candice FrederickDecember 19, 2011 at 8:02 PM

    awww what seems to be a draw for me on this movie is that "clooney is better than he normally is" general statement you and other reviewers have about it. i generally think his supporting cast acts circles around him, so they're who i'm looking for in this movie. and i love judy greer and matthew lillard

    ReplyDelete

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