Review: The Descendants

Totalfilm.com

George Clooney, the suave charmer we’ve come to love, does his best to portray a man completely detached from his life and family in this comedy-drama. He hardly knows his daughters and has neglected his wife who now lays comatose after a boating accident. The accident forces him to move from “backup parent”, as he refers to himself, to the only parent, to his two broken and foul-mouthed daughters who are, in fact, quite a handful. When he finds out his wife had been cheating on him and was planning to leave him, he sets out with both daughters and the older one’s stoner-boy friend, to find the guy who was sleeping with his wife.

Playing Clooney’s eldest daughter, Shailene Woodley unexpectedly shines, as an emotionally conflicted and angst-filled teen, who has a hard time letting go of the anger she holds towards her mother, even as she lays dying. And maybe it was all those Hawaiian shirts, the goofy hair, and constant look of desperation, but, I for one, forgot it was swoon-worthy George Clooney on the screen.

The Descendants sits somewhere between a heartbreaking drama and comedy, centered on a family dealing with the loss of a loved one, and the regret, heartache and, ‘could’ve, would’ve, should’ves’ that come along with unexpected death and infidelity. The lesson is that humans are imperfect and families are dysfunctional at best, but that doesn’t have to be the the end of it all, you can try and make up for your mistakes.