SummaryMatt King is an indifferent husband and father of two girls, who is forced to re-examine his past and embrace his future when his wife suffers a boating accident off of Waikiki. The event leads to a rapprochement with his young daughters while Matt wrestles with a decision to sell the family's land handed down from Hawaiian royalty and missionari... Read More
Directed By:Alexander Payne
Written By:Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, Jim Rash, Kaui Hart Hemmings
The Descendants
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
84
User score
Generally Favorable
7.6
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Top Cast
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
88% Positive
38 Reviews
38 Reviews
12% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Nov 23, 2011
100
The Descendants would still be a splendid movie without him; with Clooney, it's one of 2011's very best.
Nov 16, 2011
100
Clooney and Payne are coconspirators, too. They know that the story they are telling is too emotionally complicated to muck up with a lot of preening and artifice. They head right into the sad and crazymaking humor of the situation. This is a modest marvel of a movie.
User score
Generally Favorable
81% Positive
411 Ratings
411 Ratings
15% Mixed
77 Ratings
77 Ratings
4% Negative
22 Ratings
22 Ratings
Nov 24, 2018
10
One of best achievements of George Clooney. A history in a place (at same time) closer and far to paradise; the hardest art of how to handle the inevitable, specially with the children. A must to see.
Mar 3, 2018
10
A really emotional movie mainly seen from the eyes of just one character. Great story, funny and moving but still unpredictable. It glows with charm and will leave you wanting to watch again.
Oct 20, 2011
100
After a five-year wait since "Sideways," Alexander Payne has made his best film yet with The Descendants. Ostensibly a study of loss and coping with a tragic situation, this wonderfully nuanced look at a father and two daughters dealing with the imminent death of his wife and their mother turns the miraculous trick of possibly being even funnier than it is moving.
Nov 22, 2011
88
At bottom, all Payne's films make us smile, often ruefully but hopefully.
Nov 15, 2011
80
This is an exquisite portrait of a family navigating the wreckage imparted to them by one of their own.
Nov 16, 2011
75
The movie suffers from backstory-heavy voiceover narration in its first half, followed by an excess of quirky laugh lines down the stretch, just when it seems to be finding a stronger rhythm. There's a shameless crowd-pleasing element to The Descendants that keeps its harder truths about family relationships at bay.
Sep 14, 2011
50
I'm a notorious softie, and I found things to like about the film, most particularly Clooney's performance; but I remained untouched.
Apr 13, 2021
6
Clooney gives one of his usual fine performances as a well-off lawyer confronting a couple of major crossroads in his life. His wife is in a coma following a water-skiing accident, his kids are having some problems, and his extended family is about to sell off a huge, stunning waterfront property. When he finds out that his not-so-beloved wife had a lover, for reasons that are never made clear, he wants to meet the guy, and his teenage daughter gets involved in this also. Human foibles, tugs on the heart strings, cheating spouses, smart-mouthed, precocious kids, an extended family, Hawaii . . . I am a big fan of Alexander Payne's work (Citizen Ruth, Election, Sideways), but this, while interesting enough, did not truly ignite for me.
Aug 13, 2018
3
It kinda killed me how the oldest daughter turned from burn-out to the most savvy, precocious teenager from one scene to the next. She was eager and equipped with social skills to help her father out in very adult situations, meanwhile letting her friend, the world's most moronic beach boy, tag along for some reason. The Descendants is the model of an overrated picture: stripped of the beautiful scenery and beautiful actors, it's nothing more than a Hallmark movie about loss. Teen girls may think it's meaningful, but it's almost entirely void of details and insight that make something special.
Mar 15, 2012
3
Awful. I had to turn this movie off after 39 minutes. No movie can redeem itself after that much **** performances were extremely inauthentic - I couldn't stop cringing at how much it felt like an amateur play. The "actor" who played the daughter's friend can count his performance as one of the worst in recent memory. I wouldn't be surprised if he was plucked off the street and told to act stoned. Oscar nominated?....That confirms what I already knew. I'm totally baffled that so many critics and users enjoyed this abominable turd.
Production Company:
- Fox Searchlight Pictures
- Ad Hominem Enterprises
- Dune Entertainment
Release Date:Nov 16, 2011
Duration:1 h 55 m
Rating:R
Awards
Golden Globes, USA
• 2 Wins & 5 Nominations
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Win & 5 Nominations
Denver Film Critics Society
• 2 Wins & 7 Nominations
