A boating accident has left Elizabeth King in a coma,
and husband Matt, the self-proclaimed back up parent, is left in charge of
their two daughters. Scottie is a sassy
10 year old with a bit of a potty mouth on her that she has picked up from
Alexandra her 17-year-old sister whose reckless ways have landed her in
boarding school.
Matt is an easy-going workaholic Lawyer who knows he
has been neglecting his family, but he has been focusing on the future on an
important parcel of land that he and his relatives have inherited from their ancestors
who were once part of the Hawaiian royal family. (Perhaps I should have mentioned that the
story takes place on the Hawaiian archipelago and in fact as a setting, it plays
a significant ‘starring’ role.) Now just
as he is facing the news that his wife will not survive, Matt discovers that she
had been unfaithful and had a lover.
Alexandra now home from school insists that her stoner
boyfriend Sid hangs out because it will help her mood, but his ‘cool-dude’ insensitive
naiveté does little to help Matt’s. Neither
does his hard-ass angry father-in-law who blames him for his daughter’s
impending death and what he considers is a life wasted up to then.
Matt decides that as well as allowing all their close
friends to say goodbye to Elizabeth just after her life support system is shut off,
he should really track down her lover and offer him the opportunity to do so as
well. But as in life, nothing quite works out as neatly as we plan it too.
It is unquestionable a magnificent movie for several
different reasons. Firstly because the story
line does not follow any predicable pattern and is full of unexpected twists, and
it’s treatment of a family in crisis is outstandingly perceptive and totally refreshing. Secondly Alexander Payne’s somewhat inspired direction is
faultless, particular in the several moving scenes where different people are
talking to, or shouting at, comatose Elizabeth in her hospital bed. Thirdly the acting: both of the ‘daughters’
are superb but Shailene Wooley as Alexandra gives a compelling performance esp.
when she is giving her father a wake up call by telling him what her mother
really was up to. And Judy Greer as the
wife of Elizabeth’s lover steals two of the three scenes she is in. It is however very much George Clooney’s film.
His Matt is vulnerable, angry, funny, caring and his very raw emotional
performance that totally dominates the screen is unquestionably one of his very best to
date. I smell Awards here.
I liked the fact that not only do we notice that
Matt’s legal, family and emotional troubles are really all connected together,
but we realize that this is one of those rare movies when we get completed vested
in not just his life, but in those of the other characters too. It’s an intelligent
movie well played out that makes us think, care but also laugh too. It is a real gem.
Its been 7 years since Alexander Payne last directed
a movie ('Sideways' which won him a Screenplay Oscar), and this was definitely worth
the wait.
★★★★★★★★★★
★★★★★★★★★★
