The Silver Fox won a Golden Globe for his performance as Matt King, a Hawaiian lawyer who has a lot on his plate.He's dealing with a wife in a coma from a boating accident, two wayward daughters, the conundrum of selling land with his extended family for a small fortune, oh and his dying wife was also cheating on him with Shaggy from the Scooby Doo movies (Matthew Lillard). Not much to deal with then.
The movie is set in the ridiculously picturesque paradise of the islands of Hawaii. Part of the film's message is that it doesn't matter where you live, problems are problems. Yes, but a nice view eases the pain, take it from someone who lives somewhere not dissimilar to Hawaii! This film should have been great, but it just wasn't. Clooney's performance is good, he's a good actor of course, but he's done better. I felt he was just phoning it in. Matt is supposed to mellow and learn from these difficult experiences, but it isn't apparent, his role in Up in the Air was far superior, more nuanced, must less shallow. The daughters are good, but again there is little depth to them, and the older daughter Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) brings along her stoner boyfriend Sid (Nick Krause) who is daft as a brush. Slightly reminiscent of the Keanu Reeves character in Parenthood. In that movie though, initially he seems to be a half wit but brings a thoughtful balance and insight to the family. Sid is just a half wit, a nice half wit but he just seems to amplify everything that's wrong with the film. It deals with some very tough subjects which can be funny in real life, but the humour just falls short of the mark and seems juvenile.
I came away just feeling dissatisfied, and the next day can barely remember it. Another thing that totally ruined it for me was the organ donation scene early on when the Dr is telling Matt that his wife won't make it. It is techniquly inaccurate which I find irresponsible when we need to promote organ donation. The Dr states there is no brain stem function and then talks about her battling on for years. Brain stem death is death. It's not a persistent vegetative stae as was implied. He went on to say that as she wanted to donate her organs so they would have to disconnect hermfrom the ventilator.Dont go to that hospital no matter how beautiful the setting. People that are generous enough to gift their organs need to be kept ventilated until their organs are removed and given to others to save lives They are not disconnected, left to die and then operated on. If the body has no oxygen, neither does the heart, kidneys or lungs and they all die. This kind of shoddy research really irks me. They could have just googled the protocol for heaven's sake!
It's an entertaining film, for the time that you're watching it. But Gold for the Silver one, I would have put my money on Leo and I haven't seen J Edgar yet.
The Descendents: A relatively good film, but won't go down in history as a classic. 6/10'
Such a witty review! I will see it of course...maybe on an aeroplane??? But I wouldn't have known the medical mistakes if you hadn't so hilariously pointed them out!! Don't put that money on Leo - you know the Academy won't agree with you, perverse lot. Not long xoxo
ReplyDeleteIt gets more and more rare these days that I think a movie is great or even good--I thought Up in the Air just so so, but I thought The Descendants was fantastic. I felt it was so poignant and the humor was so deep. I loved the boyfriend--thought him a riot but not nearly as lame as initially perceived. And for once I thought Clooney was great. Normally he acts as though he's in some sort of coma but in this he seemed just right to me as someone dealing with all that. People behind me thought the actress doing the wife was amazing and I had to quote them the Whoopi line from Soapdish--actors don't like to play coma--they say it limits their range. I thought it was well written and the interesting thing was not how beautiful Hawaii looked but how few of the spectacular wonders were actually shown, more if it was highway ordinary in this movie. As for the medical stuff, I had no clue so point taken. I couldn't fathom the nod for Extremely Close, Incredibly Loud, Terminally Irritating....
ReplyDeleteI love that we all feel differently about the movies. what a bland world it would be if we all agreed! Just as addendum, very sad news that the academy hasn't even nominated Leo...perhaps he doesn't toe the line with them.....
ReplyDeleteI love you and I don't even know you. Please be my medical counsel for all time. I actually liked the oldest daughter. Thought her really the best work in the film; thought that lovely Clooney did pretty well phone it in. As a sixth-generation farm girl, my heart was captivated by the land story, but then I stalked off in disgust when they totally punted. Shallow film is really no film at all. My ps, though, is that I never think actors should be nominated for playing anyone contemporary. They're mimics, not actors. (Yr sister already knows I'm a crank.) So I say NO to Meryl as Thatcher and Leo as Hughes or Hoover... Too many newsreels to study to make it an acting job...
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