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"The Descendants" has a happy ending. Therefore, technically, it's a comedy. It takes place in the paradise of Hawaii. It stars George Clooney . That may lead you to expect a pleasant good time, but this film is so much more than that. Clooney gives one of his best performances in this film directed and co-written by Alexander Payne , who in " Sideways " (2004) and " About Schmidt " (2002), showed a special affinity for men learning to accept their better feelings.

The state of Hawaii is a co-star. I've been there many times, which only qualifies me as a tourist, but at more than 20 Hawaii Film Festivals, I met so many people and went to so many places that I began to understand how its people feel a love and protectiveness for the land, and how seriously they take its traditions. Much of the story here is about how Matt King (Clooney), a descendant of one of Hawaii's first white land-owning families, must decide whether to open up a vast tract of virgin forest on Kauai to tourist and condo development. At the same time, he faces a personal crisis.

The film opens with his thrill-loving wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) in a boating accident off Waikiki Beach. Matt has been involved in land management; he holds the controlling share of his extended family's estate. Elizabeth has run their own family, raising their daughters: the teenager Alexandra ( Shailene Woodley ) and the younger Scottie ( Amara Miller ). Now Elizabeth is in a coma, and her living will instructs Matt to remove life support. Alexandra returns home from boarding school, and Matt becomes a single parent while also dealing with the King family's urgent desire to close the multi-million-dollar land deal.

This is big business, emotional and financial. Just because the lawyers wear short-sleeved Reyn Spooner shirts doesn't make them pushovers. Matt's life is further complicated when he discovers from an unexpected source that his wife had been having an affair. And his daughters don't want him to sell the land, where they must often have wandered as children. Leading the push for the King family is Cousin Hugh ( Beau Bridges ). Hugh, who is as affable as Bridges can be, doesn't want to listen to any woo-hoo nonsense about not selling.

The story is based on a novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings , the daughter of a famous surfer and politician. Reading her bio, I suspect that there must be a lot of her in Alexandra and Scottie. Matt King himself thinks he will probably sell, but now everything is in upheaval. An undercurrent, which Payne wisely keeps subtle, is that perhaps Matt lost touch with his wife and daughters after first losing his special bond to the land.

Payne's films are usually about people forced into difficult personal decisions. Do you remember Laura Dern in " Citizen Ruth " (1996)? He always carefully establishes his lead characters in a matrix of supporting characters who are given weight and complexity, so we feel the pressures they're experiencing. Here there is Scott Thorson ( Robert Forster ), his father-in-law, a flinty, self-confident man who perhaps always has had doubts about Matt. Also, there are the man Elizabeth was having the affair with, Brian Speer ( Matthew Lillard ) and — here it gets thorny — Brian's wife, Julie ( Judy Greer ).

The film follows Matt's legal, family and emotional troubles in careful detail, until Payne shows us, without forcing it, that they are all coiled together. A solution for one must be a solution for all. This is so much more complex than most movie plots, where good and evil are neatly compartmented and can be sorted out at the end.

Payne is gifted at using the essence of an actor. He links something in their nature to their characters. Consider Robert Forster, handsome, tanned, angry in a complex way about his daughter's imminent death because she might not have been in the boat if Matt had been a better husband. Mr. Thorson has a moment of stunning truth with Sid ( Nick Krause ), the seemingly spaced-out boyfriend of Alexandra; Sid is also not as simple as he seems. Consider Matthew Lillard as the adulterer; not a bad man. Consider Beau Bridges, who is reluctant to be the bad guy, but not unwilling.

What happens is that we get vested in the lives of these characters. That's rare in a lot of movies. We come to understand how they think and care about what they decide. There are substantial moral problems underlying the plot.

And George Clooney? What essence does Payne see in him? I believe it is intelligence. Some actors may not be smart enough to sound convincing; the wrong actor in this role couldn't convince us that he understands the issues involved. Clooney strikes me as manifestly the kind of actor who does. We see him thinking, we share his thoughts, and at the end of "The Descendants," we've all come to his conclusions together.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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The Descendants (2011)

Rated R for language including some sexual references

115 minutes

George Clooney as Matt King

Amara Miller as Scottie King

Judy Greer as Julie Speer

Beau Bridges as Hugh

Shailene Woodley as Alexandra King

Nick Krause as Sid

Robert Forster as Mr. Thorson

Matthew Lillard as Brian Speer

Directed by

• Alexander Payne

Based on the novel by

• Kaui Hart Hemmings

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Movie Review | 'The Descendants'

For One Man, Hawaii Is a Land of Problems

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By A. O. SCOTT

• Nov. 15, 2011

In a voice-over at the beginning of “The Descendants,” Matt King (George Clooney) challenges the myth, endemic among mainlanders, that Hawaii, where he lives, is a paradise on earth. His brief rant is buttressed by images of poverty and grime that are powerful but also slightly misleading, since Matt’s story is not — or at least not explicitly — one of deprivation or social inequality.

Though he is a bit uncomfortable about admitting it (and though he tries to live a life of low-key, middle-class normalcy), Matt, a real estate lawyer, is as close to an aristocrat as it is possible for an American to be. His family tree stretches back to the earliest white settlers in Hawaii and includes indigenous royalty as well. This bloodline has devolved into a gaggle of pale loafers in loud shirts and sandals — Matt’s cousins — who own a pristine and picturesque tract of land on Kauai. Matt, the trustee of this precious birthright, is in charge of selling it off to developers.

This land deal is big news locally, but it is in some ways the least of Matt’s problems, a reminder of the burdens of an identity he both takes for granted and wishes he could shed. His wife, Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie), lies in an irreversible coma in a Honolulu hospital after a boating accident. Shortly after Elizabeth’s doctors inform Matt that he is about to become a widower, he learns that she has made him a cuckold.

Her impending death and the revelation of her past infidelity send Matt into a tailspin. The double wound also establishes what would seem to be Matt’s unshakable claim on the audience’s sympathy, which Mr. Clooney’s self-effacing charm helps to secure. But Mr. Clooney and the director, Alexander Payne (working from a script Mr. Payne adapted, with Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, from Kaui Hart Hemmings’s novel), proceed to shake up our expectations all the same.

The way Matt’s predicament plays out is surprising, moving and frequently very funny. Mr. Payne — immeasurably aided by a dazzlingly gifted, doggedly disciplined cast — nimbly sidesteps the sentimental traps that lurk within the film’s premise. He somehow achieves the emotional impact of good melodrama and the hectic absurdity of classic farce without ever seeming to exaggerate. There are times when you laugh or gasp in disbelief at what has just happened — an old man punches a teenager in the face; a young girl utters an outrageous obscenity; Mr. Clooney slips on a pair of boat shoes and runs, like an angry, flightless bird, to a neighbor’s house — and yet every moment of the movie feels utterly and unaffectedly true.

Matt, who describes himself as “the back-up parent, the understudy” is suddenly forced to manage his two difficult daughters. The younger one, Scottie (Amara Miller), who is 10, is angry and confused, while her 17-year-old sister, Alex (Shailene Woodley), just seems angry. She has a troubled past, a bad attitude and a grudge against her mother that she refuses to relinquish in spite of Elizabeth’s condition.

The emotional trajectory of “The Descendants” is familiar enough. It is about the fracturing and healing that take place within families. Matt needs to bond with his children, make peace with his wife and deal with the pesky politics of entitled cousins. As he works his way through these challenges and others, including a confrontation with his wife’s lover (Matthew Lillard), a lively and complicated mesh of plots and subplots takes shape, but the most striking and satisfying aspects of “The Descendants” are its unhurried pace and loose, wandering structure.

In most movies the characters are locked into the machinery of narrative like theme park customers strapped into a roller coaster. Their ups and downs are as predetermined as their shrieks of terror and sighs of relief, and the audience goes along for the ride. But the people in this movie seem to move freely within it, making choices and mistakes and aware, at every turn, that things could be different.

Matt in particular is overwhelmed, and sometimes paralyzed, by the necessity of choosing, and the brilliance of Mr. Clooney’s performance lies in his ability to convey indecision, hesitation and the precipitous tumble into error. Matt gets a lot of things right in the end, but along the way he mishandles nearly everything, sometimes because of impulsiveness and sometimes because he is paralyzed, unable to trust or locate his own best instincts.

This actor’s instincts, meanwhile, have never been keener or more generous. Mr. Clooney, bolstered by his effortless magnetism, has always been an excellent ensemble player, and while he is at the center of “The Descendants,” he does not dominate the movie. Everyone in it is wonderful: Ms. Woodley (“The Secret Life of the American Teenager”), giving one of the toughest, smartest, most credible adolescent performances in recent memory; Nick Krause as her goofy sidekick, Sid; Robert Forster as Elizabeth’s permanently enraged father; Beau Bridges as Matt’s cousin Hugh.

Payne’s Productive Period

View Slide Show ›

I could go on and on. As the wife of Elizabeth’s lover, Judy Greer, in just a few scenes, slices to the heart of the movie’s marital crisis. But each person who shows up on screen, even for a minute or two with nothing especially important to accomplish, has an odd and memorable individuality. “The Descendants,” streamlining Ms. Hemmings’s ample and engaging book, seems to unfold within a vast landscape of possible stories. What happens to Matt, Scottie and Alex is just a thread in a tapestry of incidents and relationships that has no real end.

Mr. Payne, with a light touch and a keen sense of place — this Hawaii is as real and peculiar as the Nebraska of “About Schmidt” or the California wine country of “Sideways” — has made a movie that, for all its modesty, is as big as life. Its heart is occupied by grief, pain and the haunting silence of Elizabeth, whose version of events is the only one we never hear. And yet it is also full of warmth, humor and the kind of grace that can result from our clumsy attempts to make things better.

To call “The Descendants” perfect would be a kind of insult, a betrayal of its commitment to, and celebration of, human imperfection. Its flaws are impossible to distinguish from its pleasures. For example: after what feels as if it should be the final scene, a poignant, quiet tableau of emotional resolution and apt visual beauty, Mr. Payne adds another, a prosaic coda to a flight of poetry. Without saying too much or spoiling the mood, I will say that I was grateful for this extra minute, a small gift at the end of a film that understands, in every way, how hard it can be to say goodbye.

“The Descendants” is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). Bad language, impossible situations.

THE DESCENDANTS

Opens on Wednesday in New York and Los Angeles.

Directed by Alexander Payne; written by Mr. Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings; director of photography, Phedon Papamichael; edited by Kevin Tent; production design by Jane Ann Stewart; costumes by Wendy Chuck; produced by Jim Burke and Mr. Payne; released by Fox Searchlight. Running time: 1 hour 55 minutes.

WITH: George Clooney (Matt King), Shailene Woodley (Alexandra King), Beau Bridges (Cousin Hugh), Robert Forster (Scott Thorson), Judy Greer (Julie Speer), Matthew Lillard (Brian Speer), Nick Krause (Sid), Amara Miller (Scottie King), Mary Birdsong (Kai Mitchell), Rob Huebel (Mark Mitchell) and Patricia Hastie (Elizabeth King).

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Review: ‘The Descendants’ Starring George Clooney Is A Mature & Soulful Look At Forgiveness

Rodrigo perez.

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Marked by a strong, soulful performance by George Clooney , simple and economic direction, and a slow and patient gait, “ The Descendants ” finds filmmaker Alexander Payne working in the familiar, but not derivative, milieu of the adult drama. The film doesn’t reinvent the wheel, and while firmly within Payne’s wheelhouse, we can see the filmmaker inching towards pure drama without dramedy or resorting to the James L. Brooks method of punctuating pain with disarming laughter. That’s not to say “The Descendants” isn’t a dramedy or isn’t funny, as it certainly has its instances of comedic flair that do defuse some painful moments, but overall, one can argue that it’s Payne’s most somber and serious work outside of maybe “ About Schmidt .” “The Descendants” is not without some problems either, though most aren’t major dealbreakers aside from familiarity and that’s purely subjective.

Based on the novel of the same name by Kaui Hart Hemmings , the film starts out with an unfortunate voiceover that feels as if it exists because the screenwriters (Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash ) could not devise of a finer way to dispense with the thorny backstory that sets the film’s plot into motion (and the fact of the matter is that’s kind of true ). George Clooney stars as Matt King, a lawyer, husband and father of two girls who we meet right in the middle of a major crisis. His adventurous, thrill-chasing wife is in a coma after a speed-boating accident off the coast of Waikiki. The descendant of Hawaiian royalty, and as the sole trustee of his large family’s fortune, Matt’s also been grappling over the past months with the impactful decision of what to do with the remaining parcels of highly-sought after and lucrative tropical beach land they own.

Featuring a plaintive and reflective soundtrack of traditional Hawaiian music, tone is everything to “The Descendants,” and while the almost two-hour movie takes a few moments before it settles into its mature little groove, it’s wise enough to never milk things or abuse the audience’s trust. This writer’s heard some call the tenor treacly, while others describe it muted, but truthfully it mostly lives in that sweet spot in between. A largely subtle affair in retrospect, “The Descendants” is likely not going to win or lose any Alexander Payne fans, though perhaps younger fans of more biting and satirical work like “ Citizen Ruth ” and “ Election ” might be tiring of these grave moods. Does Payne have anything new to say? The film’s not necessarily a super fresh approach to examination of the human condition, but on its own terms it is a largely effective and moving one that matters when it counts the most. [B]

A version of this review originally ran during the New York Film Festival in October . “The Descendants” opens up in limited release tomorrow, Wednesday, November 16 and then begins to expand this weekend on Friday, November 18.

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The Descendants Reviews

There are moments throughout the film where characters need to speak their pace, whether that peace is good news, bad news, loving support, hurtful truth, assertiveness, or even the things you shouldn't say and, therefore, leave at peace.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | Apr 7, 2024

... The film stands out for exploring the human condition from the awkwardness - and at times humor - that extreme situations produce. The kind that family forces us to go through. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 10/10 | Jan 2, 2024

It’s the sort of resonant, mid-budget film that we see so rarely these days, and it’s a reminder that when Payne is at his peak, few directors are more skilled at depicting the paradox of human behavior.

Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | Jul 7, 2023

The film could have easily crossed over into a manipulative, melodramatic tearjerker, but instead, Payne treats the material with profound emotions and a very human sense of humor.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 6, 2023

It deals with some weighty subject matter in a real and thoughtful way. It shows glimpses of greatness even though it’s brought back down by some poor creative direction...

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 20, 2022

The Descendants just doesn't seem to me to have that much interesting or new to say

Full Review | Jan 10, 2022

Clooney triumphs.

Full Review | Apr 22, 2021

Although a pleasant, easily digestible film with beautiful cinematography, The Descendants is light fare with a few plot holes.

Full Review | Feb 28, 2021

The subject matter is nothing short of morbidly depressing.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/10 | Nov 30, 2020

George Clooney at his best

Full Review | Sep 25, 2020

it's newcomer Amara Miller who practically steals the show.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 6, 2020

Payne has substituted his usual scepticism for a huge quota of sentiment and schmaltz which, though undoubtedly appealing to a mainstream audience, seems a fundamental misstep

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Aug 21, 2020

'The Descendants' is a fragile, melodramatic story that benefits in large part from a powerful performance by George Clooney. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Jun 24, 2020

George Clooney manages to turn in a career-best performance as a father of two daughters in the Hawaiian-set The Descendants.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5 | May 6, 2020

...a hard film to criticise, as it is largely an enjoyable and pleasant film - but nothing more. In the end, however, compared to Payne's previous work that is perhaps the most damning criticism that could be leveled at it.

Full Review | Feb 13, 2020

In line with his wryly humored filmography, the picture carefully balances mainstream appeal with serious subject matter, all while presenting it through an over privileged family that audiences should naturally feel disconnected to.

Full Review | Feb 9, 2020

Plenty to like in this tour-de-force comedy. Seeing it on the big screen is a plus as the cinematography is gorgeous.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Jan 22, 2020

Overall, The Descendants is a lovely film with great performances from [George] Clooney and [Shailene] Woodley.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 10, 2019

A veritable showcase for Clooney, who has honestly never been better than he is here.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 8, 2019

This film feels very authentic, like the viewer is peeking in on a real family trying to cope with a difficult situation. Part of that credit belongs to Payne's magnificent screenplay, but the cast is pretty special, too.

Full Review | Original Score: A | May 7, 2019

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George Clooney stars in 'The Descendants': movie review

George Clooney’s nuanced performance carries ‘The Descendants,’ an alternatively funny and tragic family drama. 

• By Peter Rainer Film critic

November 16, 2011

Alexander Payne ’s “The Descendants” doesn’t move like other movies. Set in Hawaii , it has a languorous ease, but it also has its antic, oddball rhythms and, at times, a brief, breathtaking romanticism. It’s a jumble that works.

George Clooney plays Matt King, a successful Oahu real estate lawyer whose wife, Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie), has been left comatose by a speedboat accident. Their two daughters, pesky 10-year-old Scottie (Amara Miller) and prickly 17-year-old Alex ( Shailene Woodley ), have never been especially close to Matt, who, in a voice-over, tells us, “I’m the backup parent. The understudy.” 

It soon becomes clear to Matt that Elizabeth’s coma is irreversible and her remaining time, once the plug is pulled, will be short. How he deals with his daughters in this tragic situation is the heart of the film, and yet – and this is the film’s true originality – it never descends into pathos. Payne, who based his movie on the acclaimed 2007 novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings and shares a screenplay credit with Nat Faxon and Jim Rash , understands how tragedy often plays itself out as a flurry of warring emotions. The grief in this film is often goofy, almost knockabout. Matt and his daughters and many others in the movie’s widening human circle are caught up in a whirlwind of kindness and rue and redemption. 

As if Matt doesn’t have enough to deal with, he also has to make a decision about the fate of 25,000 acres of pristine land on Kauai that, as majority stakeholder in the family trust, his relatives are pushing him to sell. (His ancestry, on one side of his family, goes back generations to royal Hawaiian blood.) Even worse, he must confront the revelation, supplied early on by Alex, that Elizabeth was carrying on an affair. 

Alex, who has been boarding at a pricey school on the Big Island , resented her mother for her adultery, and there is a strong element of payback in the way she unloads her bombshell on her father. Despite the maundering state of his marriage, the clueless Matt is poleaxed at the news. 

Ironically, inevitably, it is the search for Elizabeth’s boyfriend, who turns out to be an Oahu real estate agent named Brian Speer ( Matthew Lillard ), that ends up bonding Matt with his eldest daughter. They track Brian down to the Big Island where he’s taking a mini-vacation with his family and, in coconspiratorial mode, press a confrontation. But Matt isn’t the type to foment a fight. What he really wants from Brian, in a beautifully written and acted scene, is something more than a punch-out. He wants Brian to come to the hospital in Oahu and pay his last respects to Elizabeth. (In the course of the film practically all the major players have their solo scenes – they are more like confessions – with the comatose Elizabeth.) 

Although there are some magnificent vistas on view in “The Descendants,” particularly of the Kauai acreage that Matt is loath to part with, Payne doesn’t portray Hawaii in paradisiacal colors. This is perhaps the first film ever shot in Hawaii that brings out the workaday, almost banal aspects of the islands. It’s a bracingly realistic – bracingly honest – view of experience, and it’s entirely in keeping with the open-ended way in which Payne works. 

He surprises us. Just when you think you’ve pegged a person’s character in this film, the emotional landscape shifts and you realize you didn’t really know that person after all. This is true not only of Matt and his daughters but also of Alex’s stoner boyfriend Sid (Nick Krause), who, somehow, ends up as a kind of mentor to Matt; or Matt’s martinet father-in-law, Scott ( Robert Forster ), who blames him for Elizabeth’s accident; or Brian’s wife, Julie ( Judy Greer ), with her fragile chipperness; or Matt’s cousin Hugh ( Beau Bridges ), who can’t comprehend why his relative wouldn’t want to sell the Kauai acreage and reap a windfall for the family. 

All these actors are wonderful, and none more so than Clooney, who does something very difficult here: He makes decency magnetic. There is not a trace of vanity in the way he plays down his trademark glamour. He and Payne are coconspirators, too. They know that the story they are telling is too emotionally complicated to muck up with a lot of preening and artifice. They head right into the sad and crazymaking humor of the situation. This is a modest marvel of a movie. Grade: A (Rated R for language, including some sexual references.)

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The descendants, common sense media reviewers.

Devastating, moving dramedy about death and forgiveness.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Although the movie presents families as murky, dys

Though Matt confesses to being an absent father, w

A woman lies in a coma after a boating accident, a

Revelations of infidelity and discussions about ha

Tweens, teens, and adults swear frequently, includ

References to a teenager having trouble with drugs

Parents need to know that this quietly powerful George Clooney dramedy from the director of Election and Sideways careens between dark and light moments in a snap -- and some of the dark moments are really dark. Because of this heaviness and the movie's mature subject matter (death, infidelity),

Positive Messages

Although the movie presents families as murky, dysfunctional messes, it's also saying that even the smallest sliver of forgiveness has a way of illuminating the dark. And when things get overwhelming, ride them out -- just be, and you'll find equilibrium soon.

Positive Role Models

Though Matt confesses to being an absent father, when tragedy strikes, he really does show up for his kids. He's also quite forgiving of his wife and of others and refuses to dwell on whatever breaks his heart.

Violence & Scariness

A woman lies in a coma after a boating accident, and there are plenty of close-ups of her at the hospital that could be upsetting for younger viewers. A man screams at his wife and at a couple; a daughter bickers with her father. A grandfather punches a high-schooler.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Revelations of infidelity and discussions about halted sex lives. A man kisses another man's wife.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Tweens, teens, and adults swear frequently, including "f--k," and make gestures that pretty much say the same thing. Also: "damn," "s--t," "a--hole," "p---y," "bitch," "prick," "hell," "ass," "crap," "goddamn," "oh my God," and more.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

References to a teenager having trouble with drugs and alcohol. Her father and a school official catch her drunk on a beach. Social drinking in pubs and at parties.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this quietly powerful George Clooney dramedy from the director of Election and Sideways careens between dark and light moments in a snap -- and some of the dark moments are really dark. Because of this heaviness and the movie's mature subject matter (death, infidelity), The Descendants is too much for younger teens and tweens, even though the cast prominently features a 10-year-old (who cusses) and her older teen sister (played by The Secret Life of the American Teenager 's Shailene Woodley ). There's also a fair amount of swearing (including "f--k" and "s--t") and some underage drinking, including one scene in which a teen girl is caught drunk. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (8)
• Kids say (19)

Based on 8 parent reviews

Amazing, no higher then PG-13!

What's the story.

Real estate attorney Matt King ( George Clooney ) knows that he's never been the go-to parent for his two daughters, 10-year-old Scotty (Amara Miller), who's testing her boundaries with swearing and "mean girling," and 17-year-old Alexandra ( Shailene Woodley ), sent to boarding school after a bout with drugs and alcohol. Matt's wife, Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie), has been there for the girls, but now she's lying in a coma after a motorboat accident. Matt and Elizabeth's marriage had been floundering, eroded by too much work and not enough togetherness; still, he loves her. So when Alexandra tells him that Elizabeth had been cheating, it all starts to feel like a pile-on. What now? Meanwhile, Matt's cousins eagerly await his decision on another matter: Will he agree to sell the family's land holdings -- inheritance from their Hawaiian royal ancestors -- to a developer?

Is It Any Good?

THE DESCENDANTS, based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, unspools as if on island time, strolling barefoot on the beach with little regard to the clock. The voiceover is superfluous, and the tragic moments are rescued from the brink by humor that's sometimes too on the nose. It might be annoying, were it not for the fact that the film is also a transcendent, emotional powerhouse.

Lay the plots out on paper, and it's unbelievable how director Alexander Payne manages to cram them all in while ensuring that the movie's important moments remain authentic. Bravo! He doesn't hurry the layers as they pile on; he simply allows them to do as they will until the sum total suddenly, completely stuns. The biggest kudos belongs to the cast, who all seem to have simply decided to give themselves over to the characters. Even Clooney does away with his typical sophisticated swagger, clopping along on too-noisy flip-flops, wearing defiantly hokey Hawaiian shirts, and letting the gray settle in. It may be his most vulnerable role yet.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about The Descendants' messages. What is it saying about family? About the role of fathers? Are the characters intended to be role models?

How does the movie portray underage drinking ? Are the consequences realistic?

Movie Details

• In theaters : November 16, 2011
• On DVD or streaming : March 13, 2012
• Cast : Beau Bridges , George Clooney , Shailene Woodley
• Director : Alexander Payne
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Fox Searchlight
• Genre : Drama
• Run time : 115 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : language, including some sexual references
• Last updated : June 20, 2023

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THE DESCENDANTS Review

The Descendants movie review. Matt reviews Alexander Payne's The Descendants starring George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, and Amara Miller.

[ This review is a re-print of my review from the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. ]

It's been a long seven years since Alexander Payne 's Sideways hit theaters and his new film The Descendants shows that it's damn good to have him back. Tackling materials that could have easily fallen into mawkishness and enough saccharine moments to give diabetes to a small country, The Descendants is instead a sweet, tender movie that never lunges for the heart-strings. It creates an emotional connection through a charming blend of humor, honesty, and a breakthrough turn from young actress Shailene Woodley , and one of the best performances of George Clooney 's career.

Clooney plays Matt King, a wealthy but humble lawyer living in Hawaii whose wife Elizabeth is in a coma after a boating accident. Matt sees her accident as a wake-up call and hope she recovers so they can repair their strained marriage and he could be a better father and husband. He's always considered himself "the back-up parent" and he's scared by the prospect of raising his slightly maladjusted ten-year-old daughter Scottie ( Amara Miller ) and his other daughter Alexandra (Woodley), an angry seventeen year old who feels shunned by her parents. When Matt learns that Elizabeth will never come out of the coma and her living will states that they must pull the plug, he's devastated. But Alexandra has even worse news: before her accident, Elizabeth was cheating on him. It's an impossible situation for Matt who not only has to learn to forgive his wife before she dies but adding to his troubles is a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars if he sells off the last piece of Hawaiian property he inherited from his ancestors.

Accompanied by Scottie, Alexandra, and Alexandra's dumb friend Sid ( Nick Krause ), Matt goes about informing family and friends about Elizabeth's imminent death, hiding her infidelity, and trying to track down her lover, Brian Speer ( Matthew Lillard ). Matt becomes determined to find the man who slept with his wife, not for revenge, but for a variety of confused emotions that he can't properly articulate. He's angry, he's upset, he's hurt, but he also wants to forgive Elizabeth and say good-bye without hatred in his heart. How do you continue to love someone when they not only hurt you so deeply, but when they're unable to defend their own actions?

It's all a bit much on paper. The film could have easily descended into cornball sentimentality, or it could've tried to be so darkly comic that the complexity and gravity of the situation would be diminished. Payne avoids both traps. The entire film is done with a light touch that never puts gigantic "CRY HERE" or "LAUGH NOW" signs. The Descendants unfolds organically, showing both sides of everything. The setting of Hawaii perfectly juxtaposes the island paradise we know (the idealized life Matt wanted for him and his family) and the hustle and bustle of an American state like any other ("Paradise can go fuck itself," Matt angrily proclaims in the film's opening narration).

Payne avoids swerving from one extreme to the other because the goal of his movie and its characters is to find harmony. Matt and Alexandra can't be happy until they move on from the anger they've stored up inside towards Elizabeth and towards each other. The film quietly asks the question, "How long can we be in pain before we have no choice to move on?" It's not simply a matter of closure or leaving the past behind. The Descendants honestly shows that forgiveness doesn't come easily nor is it a one-way street. Part of Matt's pain isn't simply him struggling to forgive his wife, but that she'll never be able to forgive him for the dissolution of their marriage and his neglect of their children.

The script and the direction do a great job of letting the story and characters grow, throwing in the occasional joke and sharp dialogue, but a large part of the film's success is due to Clooney. It's a performance unlike anything he's done in his career. In his dramatic roles, Clooney usually plays a confident person in a position of power whose façade and confidence begins to crack as the story progresses and he's forced to confront his own weaknesses. By contrast, Matt King is a soft-spoken, humble individual who believes in heart-warming wisdom like "Give your children enough money to do something, but not so much that they do nothing." He's in pain from the beginning of the film and his mission isn't to get his groove back or reclaim his mojo. His goal is to learn how to forgive those who have wronged him and to find a way to rebuild his family after a devastating loss. Clooney fills the role with warmth, tenderness, sadness, regret, anger, and an array of other powerful emotions. There was no question that Clooney is a tremendously talented actor but The Descendants challenges him in ways we've never seen before and the result may be the best performance of his career to date.

Providing strong back-up is Woodley. She not only has to play a teenager honestly (unlike the melodrama of her ABC Family drama The Secret Life of the American Teenager ), but share the emotional conflict of her father. Matt can't rebuild his family alone. He can't take care of Scottie and do the dirtier work of tracking down and confronting Speer. Alexandra not only has to forgive her parents, but she must learn to take on new responsibilities. Woodley does a terrific job of showing the gradual growth and development of her character and rises to the occasion when she to deliver the heartbreaking news that Alexandra's mother was cheating on her father.

Miller and Krause don't fare as well because they have the weaker characters. Scottie is the weird kid we've seen plenty of times but the character is just-this-side-of-believable because Payne has the restraint to never go overboard on her quirks or cursing. Sid is a tougher character because his introduction makes him seem not only stupid but mean-spirited. There's a dopey quality to a character like Sid and some actors can pull off with innocence. But when Sid mocks Alexandra's senile grandmother by thinking she's being funny, it's not enough to simply have Elizabeth's father ( Robert Forster ) punch the kid in the face. Sid's rude comments strain the audiences willingness to believe that Matt would continue to take this kid on such a personal journey simply because Alexandra demands that he come along. When Payne tries to expand on Sid's character by giving him a deep conversation with Matt, the scene doesn't work because we never believe Matt would have a heart-to-heart with the dumb teenager in the first place.

The Sid character is an unfortunate wrinkle in an otherwise superb film. Payne's movie almost always comes from a place of respect. It's respect for the people of Hawaii, for a family's turmoil, and for how forgiveness is more than just letting go or confronting your feelings. Without being heavy-handed or flippant, sappy or trivial, The Descendants thoughtfully, honestly, and tenderly asks its audience, "What do we inherit, and how do we pass it on?" It's both a beautiful question and a wonderful movie to consider.

Film Review: ‘The Descendants’

"The Descendants" tackles some of the prickliest issues a contempo family can face with such sensitivity that it's hardly noticeable you're being enlightened while entertained.

By Peter Debruge

Peter Debruge

Chief Film Critic

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Some movies aim to distract us; others seek to help us understand. “The Descendants ” tackles some of the prickliest issues a contempo family can face — coping with a loved one’s right-to-die decision — with such sensitivity that it’s hardly noticeable you’re being enlightened while entertained. As a Hawaiian father of two negotiating complex emotions while his wife lies comatose after a boating accident, George Clooney reveals yet another layer of himself. His involvement, plus the welcome return of “Sideways” director Alexander Payne, will bring in auds; their tell-a-friend enthusiasm should spell sleeper success among catharsis-seeking adults.

Here, he plays a dad who’s never had to practice that role. Husband, check. Provider, check. But Matt was always the “backup parent” to his more adventure-seeking wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie, seen waterskiing in the opening shot, then bedridden for the remainder of the film), and the thought of having to raise his 10- and 17-year-old daughters solo terrifies him. The accident comes at a particularly difficult time, as Matt holds a majority stake in the family trust: 25,000 acres of unspoiled land on Kauai that his relatives are pushing him to sell.

To some extent, Matt is overshadowed by a decision he doesn’t want to make (the fate of real estate he doesn’t necessarily feel entitled to) and forced to deal with one that’s already been made for him (his wife’s will stipulates she doesn’t want to live in a vegetative state). Through it all, his focus remains on his children. Younger daughter Scottie (Amara Miller) is starting to act out, while teenage Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) has become such a handful she’s been shipped off to boarding school.

The inescapable heaviness of the subject aside, “ The Descendants ” never descends to griefsploitation, as Payne and fellow screenwriters Nat Faxon and Jim Rash carefully select moments that reveal the characters’ ever-changing emotions without wallowing in their pain. Nearly every detail sources directly back to Kaui Hart Hemmings ‘ sensitively crafted novel, and yet, Payne’s triumph is in striking the right tone — and knowing what to leave unsaid. The near-paradisiacal setting is hardly the only irony in this scenario; there’s also an unexpected amount of humor to be found in the circumstances immediately surrounding a loved one’s death, and the director embraces both contradictions with due respect.

Though Payne undoubtedly ranks among the leading portraitists of American cinema, his earlier films display a semi-condescending, even judgmental attitude toward his characters. Here, the individuals are every bit as flawed, and yet the tone is refreshingly open-minded, allowing observant auds to draw their own conclusions. Take Alex’s friend Sid (Nick Krause), an overgrown puppy of a kid one might be tempted to dismiss as a dim-witted pothead on first encounter. Indeed, the film milks a few laughs at his gape-mouthed expense early on, and yet later scenes reveal that Alex was smart in her choice of companions.

“The Descendants” deals in themes universal enough that audiences will come to the table with their own life experience to draw from, and Payne intuitively understands how to leave things open enough that we can personalize the story for ourselves. With the exception of Clooney, none of his casting choices seem obvious, which further brings the world to life. The entire ensemble treads the tricky line between comedy and tragedy with aplomb, from Robert Forster (as Matt’s surly father-in-law) to Beau Bridges (playing a cousin counting on the land deal going through), extending even to smaller turns from Matthew Lillard and Judy Greer.

“The Descendants” is one of those satisfying, emotionally rich films that works on multiple levels. Some will call their travel agents to book Hawaiian vacations as soon as they dry their eyes (just as “Sideways” boosted wine-tasting in the Santa Ynez Valley), while more cynical auds should find layers to engage their sensibilities as well. Of particular interest is the way Payne allows class and race to supply an interesting, albeit subtle, subtext. There’s a melancholy sense of something passing, linked to Hawaii itself through the stunning mix of widescreen vistas and native music, as well as the assurance of life’s essentials being preserved in the film’s perfectly executed final shot.

• Production: A Fox Searchlight release and presentation of an Ad Hominem Enterprises production in association with Little Blair Prods. and Ingenious Film Partners, made in association with Dune Entertainment. Produced by Jim Burke, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor. Co-producer, George Parra. Directed by Alexander Payne. Screenplay, Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings.
• Crew: Camera (Panavision widescreen, Deluxe color prints), Phedon Papamichael; editor, Kevin Tent; music supervisor, Dondi Bastone; production designer, Jane Anne Stewart; art director, Timothy T.K. Kirkpatrick; set decorator, Matt Callahan; costume designer, Wendy Chuck; sound (SDDS/Dolby/Datasat), Jose Antonio Garcia; supervising sound editor, Frank Gaeta; re-recording mixer, Patrick Cyccone; stunt coordinator, Brian L. Keaulana; visual effects supervisor, Mark Dornfeld; visual effects, Custom Film Effects; associate producer, Tracy Boyd; assistant director, Richard L. Fox; second unit director, Tracy Boyd; second unit camera, Radan Popovic; casting, John Jackson. Reviewed at Telluride Film Festival, Sept. 2, 2011. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 115 MIN. Secondary Cast: With: Milt Kogan, Mary Birdsong, Rob Huebel, Laird Hamilton, Robert Forster, Barbara Lee Southern, Celia Kenney.
• With: Matt King - George ClooneyAlexandra King - Shailene Woodley Scottie King - Amara Miller Sid - Nick Krause Elizabeth King - Patricia Hastie Cousin Hugh - Beau Bridges Brian Speer - Matthew Lillard Julie Speer - Judy Greer

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• Fox Searchlight Pictures

Summary Matt King is an indifferent husband and father of two girls, who is forced to re-examine his past and embrace his future when his wife suffers a boating accident off of Waikiki. The event leads to a rapprochement with his young daughters while Matt wrestles with a decision to sell the family's land handed down from Hawaiian royalty and m ... Read More

Directed By : Alexander Payne

Written By : Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, Kaui Hart Hemmings, Alexander Payne

The Descendants

Where to watch.

George Clooney

Shailene Woodley

Alexandra king.

Amara Miller

Scottie king.

Nick Krause

Patricia hastie, elizabeth king, grace a. cruz, scottie's teacher, kim gennaula, school counselor, karen kuioka hironaga, barb higgins, carmen kaichi, lani higgins, kaui hart hemmings, matt's secretary noe.

Beau Bridges

Cousin hugh.

Matt Corboy

Cousin ralph, matt esecson.

Michael Ontkean

Cousin milo, stanton johnston, cousin stan, jon mcmanus, hugh foster, cousin wink, tiare r. finney, cousin connie, tom mctigue, cousin dave, dr. johnston, critic reviews.

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The Descendants – review

T his sweet, sad new film from Alexander Payne holds a promise of gentleness that is fulfilled, and a promise of complexity that isn't. Starring George Clooney as a wealthy Hawaiian lawyer whose wife is in a coma, The Descendants has a kind of surface difficulty, but is distinctly soft-centred, lenient and sentimental compared to the three scabrous and brilliant pictures that have cemented Payne's reputation over the last decade.

It is commonplace to refer to Payne's films as bittersweet, and to the director himself as American cinema's prose-poet of the male menopause. In Election (1999), Matthew Broderick is the middle-aged schoolteacher who conceives an obsession with a pushy teen pupil – a career-best performance from Reese Witherspoon – whose chances of becoming school-president he attempts to destroy . In About Schmidt (2002), Jack Nicholson's lonely and cantankerous widower embarks on a destructive mission to stop his daughter from marrying a man he loathes. And in Sideways (2004), Paul Giamatti is the failed novelist who seeks to reclaim some status and self-respect in his connoisseurship of wine.

Of these three films, clearly the one The Descendants resembles most – while in crucial respects not actually resembling it at all – is About Schmidt. But it has nothing like that film's fierce power, and Clooney, though winning and vulnerable, does not raise his game for Payne the way Jack Nicholson did. What is most distinctly bittersweet about watching The Descendants is the realisation that this director has had to slush up and increase the sucrose-content to find a breakthrough success and four Oscar nominations.

Clooney plays Matt King, a career lawyer and sole executive trustee of huge swaths of family-owned land; a beautiful wilderness of enormous significance to indigenous Hawaiians. We find King in the middle of a grave crisis: his wife Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie) is on life-support, following a speedboat accident. The situation has caused huge behavioural problems with his daughters, 17-year-old Alex (Shailene Woodley), and 10-year-old Scottie (Amara Miller) and it is Alex, boiling with confusion and anger, who tells Matt that Elizabeth was planning to leave him for someone else. This turns out to be Brian Speer (Matthew Lillard), a married man in the property business whose financial affairs mesh worryingly with Matt's. Matt and the girls set out to track this man down, a bonding expedition with ambiguous intent. It is not simply that they wish to confront Speer.

It is an intriguing high concept – and a continuous, incidental, low-key pleasure of the movie is its intelligent and matter-of-fact representation of Hawaii itself, stripped of the cliches and shown as a contemporary place where people live and work, as well as just go on holiday. The soundtrack features beautiful, melancholy Hawaiian music. As an actor, Clooney may not offer us anything radically new, but his mannerisms and tics are tamped down; his line readings are forthright and intelligent, and there are modestly affecting tears. Robert Forster puts in a robust performance as Elizabeth's grieving father, contemptuous of his son-in-law (perhaps the film should have been all about him), and Judy Greer has a powerful and unexpected speech as Speer's wife, Julie.

The problem is that so much of the pain on which the movie is premised simply vanishes. The girls' emotional problems with their father – including some serious drink and drug issues for Alex – melt away to nothing when their quest begins. Substance abuse does not usually cease to be a problem when the sufferers are put under pressure like this, and Alex, in fact, becomes almost a sort of Nancy Drew figure. She brings along on their quest a friend-cum-boyfriend called Sid (Nick Krause), whose dopey tactlessness is contrived and cartoony. All the agonised implications of being unable to condemn a sick woman, or side against her adulterous lover, are cancelled too smoothly; the movie offers an easy palliative care of its own, as well as finally fudging an important decision on which a great deal was supposedly at stake.

The road-movie male crisis trope is familiar from Payne's other work, but his previous male anti-heroes were horribly real losers – lonely, unhappy, disappointed with themselves and disappointed with life itself. Clooney's character is not like that at all; he's never afraid the way they were, and he's an exotically created, hot-house-grown winner. This is an alpha male, wealthy, powerful and someone who, despite his supposed failings as a husband and father, is seen to behave well on screen and has a basic claim on our sympathies that is never seriously challenged by the action of the film. Payne's previous work has a confrontational quality; the earlier films were about what happens – to men, especially – when life's end is in sight, when goals and attainments are no longer feasible, and some sense has to be made of it all. The Descendants is notionally about the same sort of thing, but swathed in a romantic comfort blanket. Payne has found his softcore style, and it's fluent and persuasive, but I preferred the earlier voice: comic, lacerating and unflinching.

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The Descendants Review

27 Jan 2012

111 minutes

Descendants, The

The funny thing about Alexander Payne’s stories — all of them comedies — is that they’re not funny. About Schmidt: a bereaved old man travels across America to stop his daughter’s wedding. Election: a frustrated high-school teacher tries to confound a high-achieving pupil’s political ambitions. Sideways: two men go away for a stag weekend; the stag philanders while the best man finds love. Yet, in Payne’s hands they are ripe with humour. Surprising, sometimes shocking, laugh-barking humour. It’s not so much that Payne has a talent for finding comedy in the most unlikely places. More that he has a talent for mining the truth that we all find comedy in the most unlikely places.

So it proves with The Descendants, an entry in the Payne canon which deserves to sit close to his career-thus-far high of Sideways. The synopsis above doesn’t exactly sound guffaw-a-minute. Late-midlife crisis; dysfunctional progeny; controversial real-estate sale; wife in coma. It sounds like something more designed to get unstimulated homemakers weepie over a lunchtime gin. Actually, despite the presence of a classic-Payne ‘doofus’ character (Nick Krause’s obtuse teenager Sid) and a few glorious displays of physical comedy (a sudden cold-cock; George Clooney’s hilarious running), there are fewer big laughs to be found here than in Payne’s previous films. But that’s no weakness. It’s arguably his most complex work yet, one which should benefit from repeat viewings.

Perhaps, that’s a result of its idiosyncratic genesis, which makes it

a layer cake of outsider perspectives. The novel, a first-person narrative from the fiftyish Matt King’s POV, was written by Kaui Hart Hemmings, a thirtysomething woman. The film, which like the book is set in Hawaii, was made by a guy from Omaha, Nebraska, whose work has never previously left the American mainland. And the main character, a family man and faithful but arguably dull husband, is played by George Clooney.

Clooney played to his public image in his last ‘Best Actor Nominee’ role, for Jason Reitman’s Up In The Air. Here he dumps it entirely. Matt King is a role that could just as easily have worked with Paul Giamatti, William H. Macy or Bryan Cranston. He is narrator as well as main character, and Clooney, a man well used to reclining on the shores of Lake Como, has no difficulty convincing us that when he says during the opening voiceover that “paradise can go fuck itself”, he really does mean it. We’re not seeing the glamour rechannelled here — we’re seeing the actor, wrinkles and all.

Clooney’s greatly assisted by the supporting cast — from bit-parters Beau Bridges (as Matt’s deceptively laidback cousin) and Matthew Lillard (as a shit-grinned rival), to the actresses who play his daughters. Shailene Woodley and newcomer Amara Miller are perfect as Matt’s 17- and ten year-old offspring respectively, each revealing depths beneath the ‘rebellious teen’ and ‘precocious brat’ archetypes. Woodley comes surprisingly close to snatching the film away from Clooney, and not just because it’s her character who ultimately drives the plot. “Did you just spank me?” she hisses at Matt after he ineptly attempts discipline. Her reaction is on-the-nose: somewhere between disbelief, outrage and amusement. It’s an exquisite moment.

Of which there are many in The Descendants, a film which thrives on its perceptive and vibrant script (co-written by Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash). Not only does it zing resonantly — “In Hawaii some of the most powerful people look like bums and stuntmen” — it also deftly ducks the easy options, cutting away, for example, from Matt’s ‘big speech’ scene before the speech; we already know what he’s going to say, so why bother? There are few filmmakers out there as incisively and entertainingly intelligent as Alexander Payne, and he makes few films. So, like Sideways before it, The Descendants is something to be cherished.

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Why The Descendants is George Clooney's Best Performance

George Clooney has had some fantastic roles in his long career. Here is why The Descendants is his best performance.

George Clooney is one of those instantly-recognizable actors. By this point in his career, he's more famous as himself than as any one character, and he can sometimes seem larger than life. He is usually typecast as suave, charming, and has only grown into that style as an actor since his breakout role on the TV show ER.

There are many roles Clooney has played in his long career . His serious role in the war movie Three Kings was memorable for being his breakout role away from ER, and proving his skill as an actor as the vulnerable but selfish Major Gates. And his lead role in the Coen Brothers movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? is one of his most well-known. He is eccentric and highly entertaining as Ulysses Everett McGill in this Odyssey adaptation.

But, above these and all his other performances, it's his role in the comedy-drama The Descendants that is his best. Directed by Alexander Payne ( About Schmidt, Sideways ), The Descendants was highly praised when it came out, and is considered one of Payne's best movies . The story is based on a book of the same name by Kaui Hart Hemmings, and the plot seems familiar and understated at first. It's a movie about love and family , and the way tragedy ripples through a family.

The story is centered around Matt King (played by Clooney), whose wife is in a coma after a boating accident. He has to be there for his daughters and juggle a huge business deal, all while discovering the extent of his wife's affair and managing the trauma and heartbreak around the tragic event. It's not especially unique, but something about the author's well-written story is compelling from the very beginning. And the film managed to capture that feeling. The Descendants was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay (which it won), Best Director, and Best Actor - for Clooney. He also won a Golden Globe for his role, as well as other awards. The movie was considered the best movie of 2011 by publications such as The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times.

And it's easy to see why Clooney received these awards and nominations. He is by turns grieving, determined, resigned, angry, defeated, and more. The character is complex, and Clooney manages to communicate that complexity exceedingly well. As Roger Ebert said in his review , "Some actors may not be smart enough to sound convincing; the wrong actor in this role couldn't convince us that he understands the issues involved. Clooney strikes me as manifestly the kind of actor who does. We see him thinking, we share his thoughts, and at the end of 'The Descendants,' we've all come to his conclusions together." And the review from Rolling Stone said that Clooney's performance was "the finest, truest and most emotionally raw performance of his career. Clooney has never exposed himself to the camera this openly, downplaying the star glamour and easy charm. Even the laughs come with a sting."

Related: The Best George Clooney Movies, Ranked

A Drama with a Touch of Comedy

Set in the paradise location of Hawaii, The Descendants is described as a comedy-drama, though it is probably about 90% drama and 10% comedy. However, the split makes the funny moments in the movie that much better, framed as they are around grief and heartbreak.

Most famous, perhaps, is the scene where Matt (Clooney) is spying on the rental house of the man with whom his wife had an affair. He slowly hides behind a bush as he watches them, conveying a mixture of suspicion, anger, and curiosity. The silliness was so memorable that the scene has now become an internet meme.

An earlier scene shows Matt after his eldest daughter Alex ( played by Shailene Woodley ) informs him of his wife's infidelity. He tells her to watch her younger sister Scottie (Amara Miller). Then he gets up, walks out of his house, and begins to run. It's an awkward, panicked run, as he beelines it for his friends house. He comes off as a dad, lost in the grip of fear and anger and confusion, but also somehow evoking laughter with the oddness of it.

Clooney manages to walk this tightrope between comedy and drama beautifully. It's a delicate place to be, especially in what is otherwise such a sad movie. But he somehow draws on the quirkiness of his role in Fantastic Mr. Fox only two years earlier, as well as his silly yet serious role in O Brother Where Art Thou? ten years before. It's a special kind of blend that only someone like Clooney could pull off, and this movie is one of the best examples of it.

A Widowed Husband

The inciting incident of the movie is the accident that puts Matt's wife Elizabeth in a coma. Matt soon gets the news that the coma is permanent. His wife has a Do Not Resuscitate order, meaning the doctors have to take her off the machines keeping her alive, and in a few days, she will die. The film moves through Matt breaking this news to his daughters, then extended family. There are two other plots that move parallel to the evolution of Elizabeth's death: the discovery of his wife's affair, and a pending sale of a large piece of pristine, untouched land on Kauai. All three plots come together by the end of the movie.

The affair is especially difficult for Matt, who goes back and forth about wanting to find and confront the man she cheated with. He is heartbroken over the realization that it wasn't just an affair - she was in love with the other man, and was going to divorce King. At one point he is alone in the hospital room with his unconscious wife, and he just starts venting all of his pain to her - his anger with her over the affair, his confusion and betrayal, and underneath it all is the grief and sorrow. It's also obvious that he loves her, in spite of what she did.

Related: These Are Shailene Woodley's Best Performances, Ranked

A Father and His Daughters

The heart of the movie is about Matt and his two daughters, and how they are brought together by this tragedy. They were all distanced from each other before the accident - Matt was away often and working too much; the eldest daughter Alex, was off at a boarding school to deal with drug and alcohol problems, and the youngest, Scottie, had been acting out at school and struggling with her anger. They are brought together like survivors to a floating raft, and they lean on each other as they get through this dark period in their lives.

Matt relies on Alex the most, asking her to watch Scottie at times, or seeking her advice on what to do about his wife's affair. Clooney's portrayal of Matt's deep feeling of being lost and adrift in his life is palpable. The interactions between Clooney and the two actresses playing his daughters are familiar, reminiscent of family and the struggles and pain involved. By the end of the movie, we see Matt and his daughters watching a movie together. They are quiet, and still, almost empty, as their new reality as a family together begins. This film takes a complex and painful story and weaves it into something that is paradoxically heartbreaking, and also beautiful. And Clooney's performance is a large part of why it worked so well. Of all his movies, it is the most moving, and the best performance of his career.

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The Descendants

• A land baron tries to reconnect with his two daughters after his wife is seriously injured in a boating accident.
• Matt King's family has lived in Hawaii for generations. His extended family - namely he and his many cousins - own 25,000 acres of undeveloped land on Kauai held in trust, which ends in seven years. The easiest thing for the family to do is sell the land before the seven years is up, which is all the talk in the state, as, to whom they sell the property could very well change the face of Kauai. Despite the vast wealth that comes with the land, Matt has decided to live solely on what he earns as a Honolulu lawyer. However, Matt has not had a perfect life living in Hawaiian paradise as many believe. He and his wife Elizabeth were having problems in their marriage. She recently got into a boating accident which has placed her in a coma. Their seventeen year old daughter Alex is in boarding school on the big island since they couldn't handle her rebellion, which was made all the worse by an argument of an unknown nature between mother and daughter during Alex's last visit home. And their ten year old daughter Scottie is starting to act out, which Matt doesn't know if he can handle, potentially raising her on his own. Matt decides to bring Alex home upon news that Elizabeth is brain dead, and that she will be pulled off life support. But revelations about Elizabeth and Alex's argument, which is tied indirectly to the issue of the land sale, leads to some decisions on Matt's part about what is best for him in both mourning Elizabeth's death and what is the best thing to do about the land, the two decisions which may be incompatible. — Huggo
• Attorney Matt King is having a difficult time coping with his life at the moment. His wife Elizabeth is in a coma in the hospital following a boating accident. His youngest daughter Scottie is acting out and in many ways Matt is forced to be a parent for the first time in a long time. Matt is also in control of a family trust, one that is set to expire in a few years time. The trust owns a huge tract of land - vigorously sought by developers - the sale of which would be of great help financially to many of his cousins. He fetches his eldest daughter Alexandra from school and in a heated argument learns that Elizabeth was having an affair and was going to divorce him. Matt sets out to see the man, but isn't quite sure what he will say or do when he locates him. — garykmcd
• Matt King ( George Clooney ) is a Honolulu-based lawyer and the sole trustee of a family trust that controls 25,000 acres of pristine land on the island of Kaua'i. The trust will expire in seven years because of the rule against perpetuities, so the King family has decided to sell the land to Kaua'i native Don Holitzer for development. Just before family members are ready to officially endorse the deal, which Matt favors, a boating accident near Waikiki renders Matt's wife, Elizabeth, comatose. Matt and Elizabeth have two daughters, 10-year-old Scottie ( Amara Miller ) and 17-year-old Alex ( Shailene Woodley ). Matt is not very close to his daughters and refers to himself as the "back-up parent." With Elizabeth in a coma in Queen's Hospital, Matt is forced to confront Scottie's inappropriate and Alex's self-destructive behaviors. Matt learns that Elizabeth will never awaken from her coma, which means that under the terms of her living will she must be disconnected shortly from life support. He tells Alex, but not Scottie, that Elizabeth will not recover and must be allowed to die. Alex tells her father that Elizabeth was having an affair at the time of the accident. Matt confronts two family friends, Kai and Mark, and learns that Elizabeth's lover is Brian Speer (Matthew Lillard), a realtor who stands to benefit from the Kings' land deal. Matt decides to tell Brian that Elizabeth will soon be dead to give him a chance to visit her while she's still alive. After telling the family of Elizabeth's terminal prognosis, Matt, along with the girls and Alex's slacker friend Sid ( Nick Krause ), travels to Kaua'i to find Brian. Matt goes jogging on the beach and passes a man that he recognizes from the real estate signs as Brian. He trails him and sees him enter a cottage, owned by Matt's cousin, Hugh (Beau Bridges). Matt goes to the Speers' cottage and introduces himself as Elizabeth's husband. He tells Brian that he is there to let him know that Elizabeth will die in a few days and he wants to give Brian a chance to say goodbye. Brian says that while Elizabeth loved him, the affair was only a fling for him, and he loves his wife and family. He tells Matt he is sorry for the pain he caused. Matt meets with his many cousins to vote on the fate of the family's 25,000 acres. The majority vote for Don Holitzer, but Matt has second thoughts and decides to keep the land and find a different solution. Shocked, Hugh tells Matt that he and the other cousins may take legal action, but Matt is undeterred. At Queen's Hospital, Elizabeth is taken off life support. Her father visits and tells Matt he should have been a more generous and loving husband to Elizabeth, whom he describes as a good and faithful wife. Matt agrees with him, choosing to not disclose the details of Elizabeth's affair to her father. Later, Julie Speer (Judy Greer) arrives, telling Matt she is now aware of the tryst between Elizabeth and her husband. Julie forgives Elizabeth, even though she wants to hate her for destroying her family. Alex and Scottie say their final goodbyes, then leave Matt alone with Elizabeth. Finally coming to terms with his wife's betrayal, Matt tenderly kisses her and tells her goodbye. Later, Matt, Alex, and Scottie scatter Elizabeth's ashes in the ocean off Waikiki. The film closes with the three curled up on the living room couch, wearing Elizabeth's hospital blanket, eating ice cream, and watching March of the Penguins.

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THE DESCENDANTS

"family failings".

What You Need To Know:

(RoRo, HH, C, B, Cap, LLL, V, S, N, A, DD, M) Strong emotions-driven Romantic worldview with strong humanist undercurrents, wherein man is responsible for creating his own solutions and planning out his own life, mitigated with some redemptive, moral allusions to prayer and strong themes of forgiveness and healing in the final sequences as well as the importance of morally doing the right thing when the wife of the man who had an affair with the protagonist’s wife comes to the hospital to represent her family, but more in the secular context of the dominant Non-Christian worldview, plus capitalist content where protagonist is a prominent land owner; 39 obscenities and seven profanities; light violence includes grandfather punches girl’s boyfriend and gives him a black eye; man learns his late wife was unfaithful to him with another married man, which threatens to tear two families apart; upper male nudity and women in bikini bathing suits in beach scenes; drinking; drug content includes boyfriend makes reference to “always having weed”; and, a suggestion that the protagonist in the past neglected his marriage and wife in favor of work and woman has left instructions to “pull the plug” if she ever becomes comatose and dependent fully on mechanical life support.

More Detail:

THE DESCENDANTS has excellent acting and a tight script, but falls short morally and spiritually.

When Hawaiian land baron Matt King (played by George Clooney) is away on business, his wife, Elizabeth, is in a boating accident and falls into a coma. It soon becomes evident she will not wake up, and Matt faces the difficult process of bringing his daughters together to say goodbye to their mother prior to honoring her DNR order and unplugging her from life support. Clooney’s stunning performance reminds us all too well that life must be lived today, and not put off to tomorrow. In a touching but troubling scene, he tells his comatose wife, “I’m ready to talk. I’m ready to change. I’m ready to be a real father and husband. . ..” but it’s too late.

Matt faces another shock when his older daughter reveals his wife had a boyfriend and was engaged in a serious affair. This news is confirmed by Elizabeth’s friend. Matt also learns that Elizabeth was madly in love with the other man and planned on asking Matt for a divorce. So, Matt sets out with his two daughters and his eldest one’s boyfriend to visit family and inform them of Elizabeth’s condition. He also plans to confront the young real estate broker (Matthew Lillard) who was having the affair with his wife before the accident.

In spite of exceedingly strong acting, especially from Clooney, and a tightly executed script, THE DESCENDANTS ultimately fails on the moral level by suggesting that simply banding together and working past troubles alone and as a unit are the only solutions. In the worldview of this movie, there is little, if any, place for God’s Grace. Yet, the focus of the movie seems to be precisely to alert the audience to the brokenness of affairs, and the damage they cause to so many. When Matt finds his wife’s lover, he discovers that he, too, has a family and children. Moreover, he was never as serious about Elizabeth as she was about him.

The movie’s message is clearly that these two individuals have hurt their families more than they ever imagined by living in the moment and failing to uphold their marital vows, but the filmmakers don’t suggest that things could be any different. Rather, they portray people as emotions-driven beings who ultimately make mistakes and hurt those around them.

[SPOILER ALERT] That said, the final sequences of the movie emphasize the importance of forgiveness (albeit a secular view of it), as Matt and his family bid farewell to Elizabeth. It closes on an image of the family together spreading her ashes.

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