Introduction: People think a reviewers' duty is to tell you whether a movie is good or bad and while that is true it is also so much more. We also tell you if a movie is just a ploy to take your money or not. For instance, while Toy Story 3 is an enjoyable film it's just the second film all over again with some added pizzazz. I can say it's good, but also to just see the superior Toy Story 2 again instead. The same could be said of The Descendants in regards to Up in the Air; the story of the Clooney who doesn't get too drawn into his family is given the duty of giving people some really bad news. It's a good movie, but it has some obvious flaws. Let's start, shall we.
Plot Point #1: So the main plot of the movie is that George Clooney's wife is in a coma and that he will have to pull the plug on her so he decides to tell everyone to go see her. He then finds out from his older daughter that his wife was cheating on him. So he sets out to try and find this asshole, except George Clooney is a decent, fair man, so instead of beating the f*cking sh*t out of him he just wants to give him a chance to say goodbye. He soon finds out the guy is a real estate agent and the chase ensues...
Useless Characters: So I've found while watching this movie that we have some pretty useless characters who don't really do much if anything at all. One of which is George Clooney's older daughter who is an alcoholic and whom he takes with him as a means to control the younger daughter. You'd think that she'd be even more of a hassle since she is an alcoholic but she acts calm and in control for the whole movie which is so weird because when she is introduced she is drunk at rehab plus she hates her mom. And do you know what the movies reason for this is? By putting in the most annoying f*cking idiot I've seen in a while and telling us he calms her down. He just sits there and spews sh*t. We even see him stressing everyone out even more. Then the movie has the f*cking balls to tell me this retard is actually smart. NO. You know what this movie should have done? It should have had just one teenage daughter. Period. But I guess if they did that people would have realized this movie is a lot like Up in the Air...
Plot Point #2: The secondary plot point is that Clooney is a sole trustee on some land his family has inherited from an old tribe and he must soon sell it before the trust expires. He is shown to be doing a lot of research of this and someone in the beginning of the movie asks him not to sell because she has family who make a living there. But he just blows her off and walks away. We are also shown that camping in this land is a family tradition but when they go to the land instead of going camping one last time for his younger daughter he just blows it off and walks away. Wait, where is this family the lady was talking about? It's empty! Later we are shown that the guy who he is planning to sell the land too is the brother-in-law of the man who had an affair with his wife. Dun dun dunnn. But then something totally inexplicable happens. When he is about to sign the papers to finalize the sale he doesn't and gives a speech about treasuring the land as descendants. WHAT DA F*CK?! WHY?! He couldn't care less before so why now? Is it because of the affair with his wife? But that would betray his "fair person" character. Did the movie realize it's called the Descendants and should have a lesson about the responsibilities passed down from generation to generation? But the movie just spent so much time on his wife and the affair. So this sh*t is just out of the blue. Did the woman in the beginning really change his mind? Didn't seem that way to me. So either he is lying through his teeth to cover up the real reason regarding his wife which is totally out of character, or he suddenly grew some kinda understanding about life while looking for an asshole. WHAT???
Conclusion: So those are basically the only things about this movie that really bothered me. I get an Up in the Air vibe throughout the whole movie except this film seems to be more family oriented. You get this most when you see Clooney flying in a plane with his whole family (and the f*cking retard). It's by all counts a good movie. Clooney is great in this, as always, and shows a lot of emotion. But I just can't get by that this movie seems to be using the fact that people liked Up in the Air for this movie. Sure they are different in many respects but all it comes down to George Clooney being thrust into a situation he doesn't want to be and having to inform people of bad news. That's all he does in this movie. I guess he is a naturally at it...
