The Descendants - 7 stars out of 10

The Descendants - 7 stars out of 10

I'm not sure how, but "The Descendants" somehow manages to be a comedy and a drama at the same time.  And I'm not talking about happy portions, sad portions, and back to happy portions again, but both of them occuring simultaneously.  It doesn't make sense and yet it completely works.  The story has a lot of common film elements (grieving family members, cheating wife, father trying to rekindle his relationship with his children, difficult financial decision), but the manner in which the story is portrayed is completely uncouth.  It's serious at all of the right moments and it's humorous at... well, it's humorous at a lot of the wrong moments, but it still somehow works!  It's because this film is not about a mother slowly dying away.  If it was, then a sad, dramatic film would be entirely appropriate.  But this film is all about a father and his daughters uniting through a tragedy, even though it seems impossible.  The complete disrespect and obnoxious behavior of these children at the beginning (and even midway through the film) seem like an insurmountable obstacle, and yet the resolution of the film seems incredibly natural.  George Clooney's personality is perfect as the father who doesn't know his kids.  The kids were okay and, though I thought that I was going to KILL Nick Krause after his first few scenes as Sid, a smart plot twist makes him one of the favorite characters by the end.  Many of the adults in this film were lacking, but I adored Judy Greer's breakdown and felt that she got to display her acting chops, even if just for 20 seconds.  I didn't care for the number of f-words and crude gestures contributed by the children but if the writers wanted to put a dysfunctional family on the screen, they were quite successful.  If you watch this film, you will probably want to turn it off about 45 minutes in but resist the temptation!  The unconventional humorous and dramatic duality throughout the dialogue is unsettling at first but makes perfect sense in the end.  And then... I couldn't believe it!  They managed to take this inexplicable film and give it a great ending but... no end credits?  Another scene begins to play.  I was so upset that they missed their chance for a great ending but... they found the perfect ending.  The final scene, in all of its subtlety, drives the film home, only needing a few words because the visual is so excellent.  I don't know that I would've nominated this for Best Picture or even Best Actor (even though Clooney's narration was marvelous), but "The Descendants" has managed to become a masterpiece in its only little corner of the cinematic universe.