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Sean O'Connell full bio of Sean O'Connell George Clooney's a terrific actor. Versatile. Humble. Debonair. Funny. He's the closest our industry has to a bona fide movie star. But few would confuse him with our more "serious" actors. Much like his perceived inspirations -- Cary Grant, Paul Newman -- Clooney's too good at playing various shades of his public persona to ever get caught up in Method nonsense. Leave that to the Christian Bales of the world.
So I'm comfortable, and confident, in declaring Clooney's tour de force turn at the heart of Alexander Payne's The Descendants the finest of his career, to date. A perfect storm (pardon the pun) of circumstances contributes to this multi-faceted performance, which alternates from broad comedy to gut-wrenching pathos, occasionally in the same scene. And while Clooney has proven himself capable of both in previous excursions, it's rare that he's challenged by a gifted filmmaker to try both in service of the same film.
Clooney's character, Matt King, has been knocked back on his heels. A medical crisis involving his wife, Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie), has this self-described "back-up parent" tending to his rebelliously independent teenage daughters (Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller) while also attempting to close a land deal for his privileged Hawaiian relatives. Needless to say, King's overwhelmed. So when he learns an uncomfortable fact about his ailing wife, he latches on to it like a drowning man clutching a life preserver, and makes its his mission to prove whether or not a half-baked rumor holds any truth.
Payne, adapting a novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, shoots The Descendants in Hawaii, giving his universal family tensions a beautifully unique backdrop. Yet he deflates the aura of the island paradise with a well-calculated narration at the film's start, revealing that residents of the 50th state have the same problems as mainlanders. Removing the pretense allows us to focus squarely on Payne's characters, and King specifically.
Clooney, for his part, is a chameleon intent on blending into his surroundings. Witness the clunky, store-bought reading glasses, the Hawaiian shirts that are too big for his frame, or the sandals (plastic flip-flops!) he wears in one of the film's most uncomfortable laugh-earning moments. This isn't an A-lister going "ugly" for Oscar's attention. It's a sensitive performer assuming the skin of an ordinary man, producing extraordinarily moving results. Name another actor capable of convincingly playing a presidential candidate and a paunchy, disconnected real-estate baron for two films released weeks apart. The key word being "convincingly," because no matter the scenario, you never doubt Clooney for a minute.
Payne's film, likewise, is paunchy. It ambles down multiple sun-kissed paths en route to its life-and-death destination, refusing to hurry despite the immediacy of the film's various subplots. The Kings are a family of strangers learning to trust each other again while stumbling through the rituals of death: Denying a problem; lashing out; questioning one's motives; saying goodbye; moving on. Payne's absurdist humor surfaces at pivotal moments, and the character of Sid (played with a loose, surfer vibe by Nick Krause) seems forced on the story just for comic relief.
But Payne falls back on dependable character actors such as Beau Bridges, Robert Forster, and a scene-stealing Judy Greer when he needs to introduce pensive commentary on weighty topics like our heritage, a family's roots, and the need for people to have a rock-solid foundation on which to lean during times of personal turmoil. The Descendants isn't necessarily concerned with closure, however. It's one of those films that gets excited about taking the road less traveled because it relishes the journey.
"Everything has its time," King concludes near the end of The Descendants, and he's referring to a number of different topics. The line also reminded me of Payne's recent comments to The New York Times, where the 50-year-old filmmaker said he believes he's in his prime, but understands his window of opportunity to tell good stories is closing. Clooney, also 50, may feel the same way. But they can take comfort in knowing that, for these talented collaborators, the time is now, and The Descendants is the pinnacle of their successes.
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