Alexander Payne + Clooney + Hawaii = The Descendants

DWH needs to reappreciate Kramer vs Kramer

someone get Sotosyn some friggin' boat shoes already

I'm wearing a pair with argyles.

I'm not saying Kramer Vs. Kramer is bad, Morbs. It's just nothing terribly special, and surely not the best film of 1979 any more than The Descendants has one of the very best screenplays of 2011 (hopefully you'll forgive my dubiousness towards the decisions of the esteemed Academy).

Morbs agrees, I think.

he liked Boat Shoes Vs. Boat Shoes more than a lot of us

Both end with the credits rolling over George Clooney as he stares thoughtfully into the middle distance

It's not the fact that they end with that kind of shot, but holding it for so long with the credits over it is something I can't remember seeing before MC

i considered barking a little in defense of kramer vs. kramer, yesterday. i remember it fondly, though i was only 12 at the time, but i decided that it's been too long for me to say with any certainty that i'd still like it. also, i thought there was a slight misogynist streak to the descendants, similar to what jonathan rosenbaum objected to in KvK.

I kinda think all the characters in The Descendants are equally miserable.

It's not the fact that they end with that kind of shot, but holding it for so long with the credits over it is something I can't remember seeing before MC

― A Little Princess btw (s1ocki), Tuesday, May 22, 2012 9:02 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i'll agree that it works better in michael clayton.

I found this kind of a snore, tbh. However I really loved seeing Hawaii shown in a 'hey people live here' way. Honestly I enjoyed it more once I ignored the story and just watched it as a travel documentary, lol

Not bad--except for a couple of scenes near the end (Judy Greer's bedside scene), not as mawkish as I expected/feared.

However I really loved seeing Hawaii shown in a 'hey people live here' way.

I liked that too. Shailene Woodley and Robert Forster were good. And not to get sidetracked, but another demurral on Kramer vs. Kramer, which is really good, and might indeed be the best American film of 1979--I'd take it over Apocalypse Now and (easily) Being There, and maybe over Breaking Away too.

I saw this on DVD some years ago and I see I didn't bother to comment in here at the time.

My lasting, if vague, impression is that it might have been faithful to some archetypal Hawaiian story that rang true as a bell to the residents of Hawaii and it possibly held a mirror up to the islands such as has rarely been captured on film, but for a non-Hawaiian such as myself I recall it as insufficiently engaging or entertaining to allow me derive any real enjoyment from it. I recall all the main characters as coddled dullards with more money than sense, who stayed in character to the bitter end. Fascinating is not the word that springs to mind.

george clooney runs in shoes!

― occupy the A train (difficult listening hour)

If you think of this as a Flirting with Disaster-type road film mixed with a Terms of Endearment-type melodrama, the road film is better.

It has a good soundtrack.

i never did see this