Savvy. Sophisticated. Sexy. Charming. All of these attributes described George Clooney, offscreen as well as in most of his movie roles– but not in his latest, “The Descendants,” in theaters now.
If you want to see Clooney as a hangdog husband who’s been cheated on, a dad of a couple of daughters who clearly don’t respect him, but someone who retains some integrity in the midst of family and financial crises – that’s his character as Matt King, tromping around Hawaii in board shorts, T-shirts and flip-flops, trying to make sense of the chaos around him.
The movie starts with flashbacks of his wife and you quickly realize that not only are they not together anymore, but something is seriously wrong with their relationship– and that their two daughters blame him.
“The Descendants” refers to a family dynasty in Hawaii, which in this case involves their ownership of a massive piece of land encompassing pristine beachfront territory, which may or may not have to be sold to developers who are sure to decimate its natural beauty.
Based on Kaui Hart Hemmings’ novel, the story unfolds across the islands with a clear look at what it’s like to live in what many consider a tropical paradise, but for Clooney’s character– around which everything revolves– a place that could also be a living hell.
Directed by Alexander Payne, “The Descendants” doesn’t have the droll humor of his “Sideways” from a few years back, and it certainly isn’t a buddy road trip movie.
When we first meet Matt, his wife is in a coma after a boating accident and he’s taken over parenting. The two girls, 10-year-old Scottie (Amara Miller) and rebellious 17-year-old Alexandra, played by Shailene Woodley, are obviously distraught about their mother and acting out in self-destructive ways that their father must mitigate.
No spoilers here, but the plot takes an unexpected twist when infidelity rears its ugly head in the King marriage and the kids, including Alexandra’s slacker boyfriend, whom she insists comes along for the ride, become involved in a revenge scenario that involves stalking someone to a Kaui retreat from their home base in Honolulu.
The multi-million-dollar piece of property that family members are battling over is also on Kaui and it becomes a key motif. Matt’s one ace in the hole is that he’s the guy in charge of it– and the legacy of the family, descended from the union of a Hawaiian princess and the banker son of white missionaries.
Instead of his witty conversations in films like the “Up in the Air” and the “Ocean’s Eleven” series, Clooney here is stripped of his usually slick surface and able to lay bare a range of emotions from heartbreak to resentment to love. It’s quite something to see, and “The Descendants” is a worthy journey that should be taken.
“The Descendants,” directed by Alexander Payne, written by Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, Rated R, Run Time: 1:55
TAR Rating: 4 Stars
