The Last Movie I Saw

I really enjoyed The Descendents, directed by Alexander Payne and starring George Clooney. That's not much of a surprise really, as those two guys have been respectively working on fairly lengthy winning streaks. While Clooney sometimes gets involved in some high concept commercial films (the Ocean's series, for example, or his collaborations with the Coen brothers), he seems equally comfortable in smaller-scaled realistic films-- like Good Night and Good Luck, Michael Clayton, or Up In the Air-- and The Descendents is definitely in that category. Payne's ouevre exists exclusively on that scale, and he's yet to make a clunker (his resume includes Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt, and Sideways). I think it's safe to say that the recurring theme in Payne's movies is that you can't take anything for granted, no matter how set in your ways you may think you are, there will always be some sequence of curveballs that compel you to rethink your place in the world. Since his characters (and Clooney fits this mold in the current film) tend to be basically decent people, the ways they cope tend to reflect their efforts not to give in to worst tendencies, though not always successfully. Here, the Clooney character's life is disrupted by his wife going into a coma and his subsequent discovery of her infidelity. His efforts to keep his family, and his sense of what's right, intact amidst that set of challenges is mirrored by a concurrent professional problem which inevitably becomes entangled in his more personal issues. What makes this work for me is that Payne largely avoids the kind of cynicism or ironic detachment that marks so much of contemporary culture, without falling into the alternative trap of being overly cloying or sanctimonious. It's a bit of a tightrope act, but Payne is up to the task. I should also note how much I enjoyed the fine performance by Shailene Woodley as Clooney's older daughter, and Robert Forster who brings real depth to the role of Clooney's father-in-law, by turns both funny and touching. I wouldn't call it a classic, but I suspect The Descendents will reward repeat viewings.