The DescendantsOnly Oscar-winning writer-director Alexander Payne (Sideways) would think to cast the famously handsome George Clooney as a dishevelled dad in his outstanding adaptation of Kaui Hart Hemmings's tragicomic novel. Clooney dials down the glamour to play Matt King, a Hawaii real-estate attorney with a propensity for unflattering shirts and ill-fitting trousers. When Matt's wife, Elizabeth, ends up in a coma after a water-skiing accident, Matt must learn to balance the parenting of his resentful daughters, Scottie (Amara Miller) and Alexandra (Shailene Woodley,... The Secret Life of the American Teenager), with the sale of a pristine plot of Kauai land that stands to make the King cousins, including scruffy Hugh (Beau Bridges), a fortune. As Elizabeth's condition worsens, Matt contacts friends and relatives, like her fiercely protective father (Robert Forster), so that they'll have the chance to say goodbye. In the process, he finds out she was having an affair with realtor Brian Speer (Matthew Lillard, effectively cast against type), so he and the girls, including Alex's hilariously mellow friend, Sid (Nick Krause), go on an island-hopping trip, ostensibly to add Brian to the mix, but Matt really wants to find out what his wife saw in the guy. His journey from naiveté to knowledge brings out Clooney's soulful side, creating a believably flawed, deeply sympathetic figure. If Payne leans too heavily on the slack-key soundtrack, his love for his characters, including Judy Greer as Matt's female counterpart, results in his most emotionally satisfying movie to date. --Kathleen C. Fennessy SidewaysWith Sideways, Paul Giamatti (American Splendor, Storytelling) has become an unlikely but engaging romantic lead. Struggling novelist and wine connoisseur Miles (Giamatti) takes his best friend Jack (Thomas Haden Church, Wings) on a wine-tasting tour of California vineyards for a kind of extended bachelor party. Almost immediately, Jack's insatiable need to sow some wild oats before his marriage leads them in into double-dates with a rambunctious wine pourer (Sandra Oh, Under the Tuscan Sun) and a recently divorced waitress (Virginia Madsen, The Hot Spot)--and Miles discovers a little hope that he hasn't let himself feel in a long time. Sideways is a modest but finely tuned film; with gentle compassion, it explores the failures, struggles, and lowered expectations of mid-life. Giamatti makes regret and self-loathing sympathetic, almost sweet. From the director of Election and About Schmidt. --Bret Fetzer [show more]
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A double bill of comedy dramas directed by Alexander Payne. In 'The Descendants' (2011), lawyer Matt King (George Clooney) has enjoyed a fairly easy life to date. Living in the tropical island of Hawaii, with his financial future secure, King has grown complacent to an extent that is only brought home to him when a boating accident sends his wife, Elizabeth (Patricia Hastie), into a coma. Left in sole charge of the daughters he has largely neglected, Scottie (Amara Miller) and Alex (Shailene Woodley), Matt is called to face his responsibilities as an adult. However, when he discovers that Elizabeth had been having an affair in the months leading up to the accident, a test of his newfound emotional maturity is presented. Matt sets out to confront Elizabeth's lover and to find out the truth underlying the affair. 'Sideways' (2004) revolves around Miles (Paul Giamatti), an unsuccessful novelist, and Jack (Thomas Haden Church), an equally unsuccessful actor who is about to get married. Deciding to take a road trip through California's wine country in an attempt to sow their wild oats, they explore the nature of their failures and begin to question their relationships. While Jack has an affair and wonders whether he should call off the marriage, Miles, recently divorced himself, questions whether or not he made the right decision.
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