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The Descendants [DVD]

1 disc
Region 1 USA/CA (info)

Alexander Payne's seriocomic THE DESCENDANTS, an adaptation of the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings, stars George Clooney as Matt King, a middle-age Hawaiian who runs a trust responsible for millions of dollars worth of untouched real estate that has been passed down to him and various cousins. He is preparing to sell the area, and make millions for everyone in the trust, when his wife suffers severe head trauma during a boat race. As he attempts to get her affairs in order, he learns that she had been having an affair. With his two daughters in tow, along with his oldest daughter's doofus boyfriend, Matt sets off to confront the man who made him a cuckold. Beau Bridges, Judy Greer, and Robert Forster co-star. THE DESCENDANTS screened at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.
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Credits

George Clooney, Shailene Woodley, Amara Miller, Judy Greer, Beau Bridges, Lloyd, Vernet Bridges
Critic Reviews

"Alexander Payne has made his best film yet with THE DESCENDANTS....George Clooney is in very top form in a film that will connect with any audience looking for a genuine human story..."
Hollywood Reporter
5 stars out of 5 -- "[W]riter/director Alexander Payne returns in top form with this extraordinary dramedy....George Clooney has never been better..."
Box Office
"[A]n exceptionally smart and enjoyable comedy..."
Wall Street Journal
4 stars out of 4 -- "Clooney gives one of his best performances in this film....Payne is gifted at using the essence of an actor..."
Chicago Sun-Times
"[T]he film is conversational in its pathos, wry in its wisdom, very much an extension of the smart, sardonic sensibility Payne brought to SIDEWAYS and ABOUT SCHMIDT."
Los Angeles Times
"Throughout this beautifully textured portrait of a family at a crucial juncture, we're swept up and buoyed along, as if riding a series of waves in Hawaii, the setting for the film."
USA Today
"Mr. Clooney and the director, Alexander Payne, proceed to shake up our expectations....Surprising, moving and frequently very funny."
New York Times
4 stars out of 4 -- "[A] pitch-perfect movie that threads a microscopically tiny needle between high comedy and devastating drama."
Washington Post
"THE DESCENDANTS thrives primarily because of Paynes staging....the Hawaiian setting gives the story a distinctive flavor..." -- Grade: B
A.V. Club
"[A] beautifully chiseled piece of filmmaking -- sharp, funny, generous, and moving -- that writes its own rules as much as ABOUT SCHMIDT or SIDEWAYS did." -- Grade: A
Entertainment Weekly