90% The Descendants

All Critics (114) | Top Critics (39) | Fresh (103) | Rotten (11)

It's a lovely, heartfelt character study of common, everyday people trapped on the horns of an uncommon but not unheard-of dilemma.

The latest exhibit in Payne's careful dissection of the beached male, which runs from Matthew Broderick's character in "Election" to Jack Nicholson's in "About Schmidt" and Paul Giamatti's in "Sideways."

This mature, well-acted dramatic comedy is deeply satisfying, maybe even cathartic.

A tough, tender, observant, exquisitely nuanced portrait of mixed emotions at their most confounding and profound -- all at play within a deliciously damp, un-touristy Hawaii that's at once lush and lovely to look at.

A splendid comedy-drama about a father coping with his comatose wife and difficult daughters represents high points for George Clooney and Alexander Payne.

Payne has always tended to look at society from the perspective of a curious, puzzled alien, but now the alien has grown moist-eyed and affectionate.

A family drama whose distinction comes primarily from its nuances and subtleties.

Director and co-writer Alexander Payne again shows the most acute and perceptive understanding of the American psyche of any current director.

Flawless in the still manner it approaches crippling encounters with grief and disgust, dryly expressing the necessary unraveling of a distracted man. The Descendents is simply terrific, profound yet understated.

Payne has a particular skill for making movie stars seem like normal people, and the resolute normalcy of the cast helps to show Hawaii not as a resort paradise, but as a place like any other where people live, work, love, and die.

Even as Payne's weakest film, The Descendants is still worth seeing

I understand Clooney is playing a detached father and husband, but there's no explanation why a financially well-off man basically without a job has no clue about his wife and children.

Clooney will most definitely be getting an Oscar nod for his touching, open and honest work.

"The Descendants" has all the qualities of a special story. And it should be on the short list of Oscar's favorites.

The Descendants has a jaunty, energetic air about it. It's just the thing to lure you into the heart of a family tragedy.

Its pace is as leisurely as a day in its Hawaiian setting, which makes the lovely parts lovelier but its angsty moments even more torturous and uncomfortable.

It has been over seven years since Payne's last film, "Sideways," was released and the man has not lost his touch.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_descendants_2011/

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