The Descendants

It’s probably safe to say that George Clooney’s character in The Descendants is going through some of the toughest situations anyone can go through. After his wife is injured in a boating accident and lands in a vegetative state, he must accept the fact that she will die. And to make matters worse, he learns that his wife was cheating on him for a substantial period of time. It’s not really a movie to go see as a pick-me-up after a stressful week at the office. But when you get by the initial depression of the storyline, there is a lot of positive stuff happening here.

Clooney gives such a typical Clooney performance that it almost isn’t impressive anymore. He does all the right things by being likeable, and sympathetic, but the fresh faces come off as more compelling. Shailene Woodley, who plays the oldest daughter, gives a complex performance seesawing between an out of control jerk and a strong role-model type. When the audience learns more about why she acts the way she does, the Jekyll and Hyde act becomes an important theme in the film and a lightning rod to bonding with her father and sister. But when a script includes excessive cursing, it better come off naturally, and Woodley’s does not. It’s like when little kids throw it out there to test their parents.

In regard to the more important aspects of the script, The Descendants does much better. The depressing elements give way to strong family moments. Drama emerges from the most innocent exchanges between friends, and who knew that cousins could have such animosity toward each other. While The Descendants definitely carries enough weight to be placed in the award season shuffle, some odd attempts at humor could count against it. And I still can’t get over why there would be pointless swearing when it pushed the film into an R rating. Oh well. (8.8 out of 10)