The Descendants

Matt King,  a wealthy native islander, lives in Hawaii with his family.  When tragedy strikes and his wife is left in a coma family secrets surface.  Matt struggles to deal with the inevitable death of his wife while trying to save his dysfunctional family.

This is actually really good.  It is a well crafted story that never pretends to redeem the characters from their pathetic flaws.  It just tries to point them out in a humanizing way.

The cast is great, as none of the characters are particularly likable.  But you come to accept everyone for who they are and appreciate their willingness to fight for the survival of their relationships, no matter how pitiful.

Clooney is good as always but the two actors that steal the show are Shailene Woodley (plays Clooney's older daughter) and Nick Krause (her friend).  They are really amazing and made the movie.

Kind of slow and not what I expected, but really well done.


*** Must See


Rated R (for language)