I want to preface this blog with the following disclaimer: I am not a professional movie critic or an expert on all things Clooney. But this whole “The Descendants” hype is physically painful. On an ‘Avatar” level for me, it’s that bad. I cannot explain why, but I’m certainly going to try. At the very least, maybe I can get on with my life after getting it all down in writing. I also promise to do something productive with this day off, thank you, Dr. King. But I couldn't help myself, I had to write this. It kept me up last night, so here we go:
I think we should start by looking at the evolution of Clooney. I have been perplexed by Hollywood’s worship of him for a while now. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of overrated actors (that list is for another blog), but it seems that all of Hollywood drinks the George-flavored Kool-Aid. And the weird thing for me is: I don’t dislike the guy. At all. I think if I knew him, I’d want to be friends with him. He is extremely likable, handsome, and seems very charming. But in terms of his acting abilities, I've never been sold. I went back in time a bit thanks to IMDB and found a list of Clooney movies. (I didn't include short films or voiceover work here). Of course, there’s this year’s “The Descendants” and we’ll get to that in a bit. “The Ides of March” also came out this year. I didn’t have the good fortune to get my husband to a movie where Gosling is in a suit the whole time. I’ll be buying the DVD especially for those lonely weeks when Bryan is out of town, thankyouverymuch.
In the last ten years, George has given us some good and some bad. “The American” goes on the BAD list. It was TERRIBLE. “The Men Who Stare at Goats” – yikes. “Leatherheads” – I didn’t even stay awake for this atrocity and I love John Krasinski.
Then there's the good: “Up in the Air” – I’m going to talk a bit more about this one as I’m one of the few people who loved this movie. “Burn After Reading” and “Michael Clayton” are also fabulous movies. I also enjoyed “Good Night and Good Luck” which Clooney directed and co-wrote. There is also the “Oh, yeah, I did see that movie…I don’t remember hating it, what was it about?” Clooney list: “Intolerable Cruelty” makes the cut there.
As I mentioned, I have not seen every movie the guy has made. I own up to not watching “Syriana”, the movie for which George won his Oscar. I also have not seen “The Good German”. I don’t even remember that coming out?? To round out the last 10 years, I also have not seen “Solaris”, “Welcome to Collinwood” or “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind”. So I can’t comment on any of these as to their quality or how big a role Clooney played in each.
Take note, the Clooney movies that are considered good by the masses (and myself) have INSANE supporting casts. I’m not even including the 85 Oceans Eleven movies on this list, but the first Oceans movie would certainly rank there. “Good Night and Good Luck” wouldn’t be what it was without the stellar performance of Edward R. Morrow. I’d still argue that “Burn After Reading” is some of the best work I’ve seen out of Brad Pitt (I’m a recent convert to the school of thought that Pitt can act.) In addition to “Burn After Reading”, “Michael Clayton” also had the brilliant (but not fashion-inclined) Tilda Swinton who won an Oscar for her supporting role.
This brings me to “Up in the Air”. I would argue with anyone at any time that this is the best role Clooney’s ever had and the best job he’s done in any film (Thank you, Jason Reitman). There’s a reason for this. HE PLAYS HIMSELF!!!! In “Up in the Air”, George plays a guy that preaches “traveling light” – without any major commitments to hold you down. We can ask Elisabetta Canalis whether or not she thinks this was an appropriate role for George. What I liked about this performance, though, is that the character transforms from a guy that doesn’t really consider other people or their feelings to realizing that he has feelings himself. George makes the character extremely human and you actually are rooting for him to turn it all around. If you haven’t seen it, I don’t want to give anything away, because it is really good. Go rent it. But what you’ll notice about “Up in the Air” is that any time Clooney shares the screen with Anna Kendrick and Vera Farmiga, either female steals the scene. Additionally, I am against giving someone awards for playing himself. And there was no way George was getting any accolades in 2010 against the brilliant performance of Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart".
This brings me to my point – I don’t see Clooney as a strong enough actor to hold his own opposite anyone else who can actually act. However, by being in movies with people who can actually act, he’s gotten Hollywood to assume that he can, too!
And here we are, “The Descendants”. So far this year, George has won virtually every major “Best Actor” award including, obviously last night’s Golden Globe, the National Board of Review, and Critics Choice Award. The film itself has made the Natioanl Board of Review’s Top 10 list of 2011, won AFI’s Film of the Year, LA Film Critics choice for Best Film, the Satellite Award for Best Film – Drama, and the Golden Globe for Best Drama.
Since we still have the SAGs, BAFTAs, and Oscars to go, I am worried for Jean Dujardin of “The Artist” who deserves every award out there for his performance (as well as for the film, “The Artist” itself which also deserve Best Picture).
My issues with “The Descendants” begin with what the story itself is about. (Disclaimer: I didn’t HATE this film, but I didn’t like it, either). The film opens with Clooney voicing over that his wife has been in a terrible water-skiing accident. She is in a coma and George tells us that he hasn’t been the best of husbands. As he begins to cope with the fact that his wife may never wake up, we learn through more voice-over that George was born privileged (this must have been very hard for him to relate to). His family owns a metric frick-ton of land in Hawaii. He is the executor of the estate and has the power to determine whether the family will sell this land for development of resorts to stimulate the Hawaiian economy or preserve the land.
First problem with the film – if you have to give a huge backstory to me through voiceover, you’re not telling the story effectively. My opinion - but I HATE voiceover information. I’m going to watch a movie to see things play out, not so you can read me a script. Second problem – wow, I feel so sorry for George. Workaholic father that lives in Hawaii with tons of money and the power to make a decision to make even more money – I’m confused. Was I supposed to like this guy???
SPOILER ALERT. If you haven’t seen the movie and don’t want to know how things play out, do not keep reading. Do not say I didn’t warn you.
Enter the amazing Shailene Woodley. She is to this movie what Anna Kendrick was to “Up in the Air”. She steals every scene she’s in. As George’s teenage daughter, she tells him that his comatose wife was cheating on him prior to her accident. George is perplexed. Who cheats on George Clooney???
Shailene tells George that she saw her Mom and a Mystery Dude going into a house one day. And here we get to the plot: They are going to hunt down Mystery Dude!
The ENTIRE movie revolves around this. George takes his two daughters (one is a bit younger and adorable) and some random kid that Shailene hangs out with and they fly all over the Hawaiian Islands looking for Mystery Dude. Cue Alexander Payne’s directing skills – let’s play sad Hawaiian music while all this is going on (::Cough, cough:: “Sideways” much??).
They find Mystery Dude, played by a bloated Matthew Lillard. George decides to tell Lillard that his wife loved him and that he should go pay his respects to her.
Ok, WHAT?!?!? So you’ve spent a good amount of time and money dragging your kids all over Hawaii trying to hunt this guy down and that’s what you’ve got to say to him?? “Hey, I know you were sleeping with my wife. Well, she’s dying. You should probably go say your goodbyes”.
Matthew Lillard sensitively tells Clooney, “Uh, NO. Hello? I have a family here.” So…the entire plotline doesn’t actually get resolved. I think the point is that George has reconnected with his kids in the unlikeliest of scenarios, but...yeah, this whole thing is a stretch for me.
We finish with George trying to cry over his wife’s dying body. This is possibly one of the WORST-ACTED scenes I’ve ever seen in my life. But as my Aunt Claire pointed out, think about it – Real-life George can’t seem to harness these emotions because he can’t relate to them. The problem with George’s acting job here is you see him trying, willing himself to cry. It doesn’t work.
“The Descendants” has its touching moments. Shailene Woodley herself is responsible for almost all of them as are the parents of George’s wife. The movie also wraps up its outside storyline of what George does with the land.
Giving George the Oscar for this role would be a travesty. “The Descendants” winning Best Picture would be a travesty. But as much as all those accolades for “Avatar” pained me the entire awards season a few years back, we all know what happened when it came to Oscar night. Oh yeah, “The Hurt Locker” cleaned house. Here’s to hoping!
I feel much better now.... :-)
