The Descendants

Despite the acclaim surrounding the name Alexander Payne, the new drama from the celebrated director doesn’t live up to the high standards usually associated with him. Due to a flat performance from its star, George Clooney, and an emotional disconnection between the story, characters and audience, The Descendants instead settles for mediocrity.
Set in Hawaii, The Descendants centers on a busy lawyer named Matt King (Clooney) who finds himself in quite the predicament: His wife, who he’s neglected to love during the latter years of their marriage, is in a coma about to die. To make matters worse, he discovers that she has been cheating on him and planning to ask for a divorce.
Layered with possibility, this premise has the potential to become a moving story about death and forgiveness. And even though it eventually tries with a somewhat poignant finale, Payne spends too much time getting there, boring us with an aimless middle chapter that disconnects us from the characters and their final redemption.
The rabbit trail follows King, along with his two daughters, Scottie (Amara Miller) and Alexandra (Shailene Woodley), and Alexandra’s dopey friend (Nick Krause) as he becomes determined on finding and confronting his wife’s lover. This plotline makes for some funny moments, but Payne drags it out to the point that, when King finally finds the guy, the showdown feels anticlimactic and thus unsatisfying.
King’s search for his wife’s paramour is obviously meant to serve as a catalyst for the renewal the relationships between King and his daughters, especially Alexandra, who’s had a history with drugs and older men. Unfortunately, the film becomes so focused on King and his vengeance that the relationship between the father and daughters becomes secondary, and the most significant scene we get is Alexandra laying her head on her father’s shoulder.