‘The Descendants’ is a Tragicomic Triumph

“The Descendants” is simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking. Its humor and tragedy are so closely intertwined that the laughs hit before the tears can dry. This true-to-life oscillation between the calamitous and the comic allows the film to present its story—that of a man who loses his wife in a boating accident—as not simply a senseless tearjerker but rather a compelling meditation on life, love, and forgiveness.

The raw power of the movie comes from the weighty realism of its main characters. George Clooney plays Matt King, a lawyer and self-described “back-up parent” whose personal philosophy of “give your children enough [money] to do something, but not enough to do nothing” has not endeared him to his two daughters. Once his wife is incapacitated, the overwhelmed Matt must keep his fraying family together, all the while negotiating the sale of his family’s no-longer-needed 25-acre land plot in Hawaii.

Elizabeth King’s (Patricia Hastie) accident could not have come at a worse time for her family. Matt hadn’t spoken to his wife for three days prior while on a business trip, but “in a way,” he remarks, “[we] hadn’t spoken in months.” Seeing Matt receive the news that his wife is going to be taken off life support—and that he is now solely responsible for their children—is gut-wrenching. The pain, guilt, shock, and grief of the moment are all expertly captured through close-ups of Clooney’s incredibly expressive face.

Clooney may be the perpetual bachelor of Hollywood in real life, but in this film he perfectly embodies King—a husband and father who is just trying to keep his head above water. He’s not quite an ordinary man, but he’s as human as we can expect from a movie character. His struggles, his pain, and small victories become our own.

After he receives the news about his wife, King decides to bring his neglected teenage daughter Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) home from college. Though Alexandra has problems of her own, she helps her father take care of her younger sister Scottie (Amara Miller), a 10-year-old with a propensity for giving the middle finger. Scottie’s is a complex role, especially for a child actor. She is vulgar yet fragile, inquisitive, and quirky. But newcomer Miller pulls it off effortlessly.

Indeed, acting is undeniably the film’s strength, and not just from its big-name lead. Even Nick Krause is able to make Alexandra’s dopey friend Sid into more than just comic relief. The scene in which he nonchalantly tells Matt that his father recently passed away is tender and understated, as Matt finally realizes why Alexandra needs Sid. Few would expect a laid-back surfer to have as much emotional depth as Krause brings to the role. Together, Alexandra, Scottie, and Sid mix moments of bemusement with moments of misery, and along with Clooney lend a rare realism to “The Descendants.”

The lone exception among the film’s exceptional performances is that of Judy Greer, who plays the curiously named Julie Speer—the wife of Elizabeth’s illicit lover—in largely tone-deaf fashion. Perhaps the actress should stick to playing the bitchy best friend character in romantic comedies, as she has in “The Wedding Planner,” “13 Going on 30,” and “27 Dresses.” “The Descendants” seems too multi-layered and serious for her brand of acting.

“The Descendants” has the simplest of plots. It’s a movie more about characters and emotions than clever twists, much like many of writer-director Alexander Payne’s previous projects. The film will not test your brain like “Inception,” and it will not make you laugh like “The Hangover,” but it is a genuine slice of life. And isn’t a movie that makes us laugh, cry, and truly feel all that one could ask for from a day at the cinema?