To an oldie like myself, part of this movie felt like a modern sequel to two James Michener adaptations in the Sixties - 'Hawaii' (about the first missionaries from US to Hawaii) and 'Diamond Head' (about the next generation who headed the annexation of Hawaii for the US) - with the family descendants of those first missionaries grappling with the sale of land bequeathed to them by the last King of Hawaii. But that plot line barely gets a look in and is perfunctory at best. Parallel to this 'letting go' is the personal issue for George Clooney and his two daughters of 'letting go' of his wife/their mother who has been brain damaged in a boating accident. Personal and Societal running along with each other to some form of redemption - geddit?? Unfortunately both parts of the story are boring, uninvolving, and almost fake in its attempts to create emotional grip. The direction is lacklustre and Payne does not seem interested in the content. The script is downbeat, tedious and plain awful. The characterisation across the board is done by numbers and would disgrace a soap. While the acting - even the phone company would not ordinarily let people phone these in! from a few minutes in, I just thought 'So what?' and this was my final thought as redemption was reached with a totally corny Clooney eulogy. Hopelessly poor.
Review of The Descendants
