The Descendants
Native islander Matt King (George Clooney) lives with his family in Hawaii. After his wife is seriously injured in a boating accident, Matt tries to be a good father to his young daughters, as they too try to cope with their mother's possible death.
17 January 1947, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
20 July 1975, Detroit, Michigan, USA
10 April 1936, Camden, New Jersey, USA
22 July 1970, Alameda County, California, USA
July 03, 2016
Director Alexander Payne is a master storyteller of the huge life transition. 'Sideways' is one stellar example, 'About Schmidt', another. 'Descendants' easily rivals 'Sideways.'
October 07, 2015
Mr. Payne's undeniable knack for naturalism makes "The Descendants" a wholly persuasive and heartfelt experience.
December 02, 2011
The challenge in describing the film is that it doesn't neatly fit into any pigeonhole. It's a serious movie that happens to have a sense of humor, because Payne and his collaborators see the absurdity in everyday existence.
September 08, 2013
The Descendants is an exercise in why women are such horrible, despicable shrews. When this film isn't demonising its female characters for daring to be unhappy in their marriage, it's condescending them for showing too much emotion...
November 22, 2011
In the hands of writer-director Alexander Payne, Clooney has rarely seemed so much at home.
January 24, 2012
Payne is an unobtrusive director, a filmmaker who lets the script do the walking - in this case, perhaps too much.
November 22, 2011
In playing an everyman stranded between anger and duty, Clooney earns an emotional payoff that a lesser actor would simply demand.
November 23, 2011
One of the year's best films, a bubbly meditation on family and responsibility that weighs just enough to matter.
June 10, 2016
Clooney and Payne share an uncanny knack for that wistful smile in the face of havoc; for conveying the peace that comes from having lived a life, from having seen disasters come and go, and from knowing that, one way or another, this too shall pass.
June 22, 2013
A truthful, warm-hearted, deeply moving film about loss, about death, about legacies and, yeah, family.
June 20, 2013
The Descendants is humane, decent, and close to real quality.
May 03, 2015
I enjoyed Clooney's performance enormously without ever buying it for a second.
