TheRetroCritic

Alexander Payne is no stranger to pain. It's his NAME! :O Seriously though, very few filmmakers these days capture loneliness quite as skilfully as Payne. Sideways , About Schmidt and Election all great examples of how to make a lonely guy movie right. What makes these films work, strong performances aside, is the way the protagonists are portrayed: they aren't perfect. Frankly... they're kind of assholes. These are flawed beings: jealous, petty, selfish. Sadly, this is why we can identify with them so easily. Payne's dark sense of humour, along with some razor-sharp writing and a heartfelt look at some of the most loveable dummies you'll ever meet usually proves to be a winning formula. So how does The Descendants fare? Lets just say it fits in nicely as a good companion piece to About Schmidt. Though not quite as heartbreaking or funny as the latter, it's a more grown-up movie in some ways. Focusing less on jokes and more on giving the story the w