TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

wfairfan Matt (Clooney)'s a wealthy, hardworking, but out-of-touch with his family's 'feelings' and 'challenges,' Dad has to suddenly wake up and reassemble his life when his thrill-seeking wife suffers a traumatic head injury; her ultimate recovery uncertain. His teen and pre-teen daughters are almost unfamiliar, though not hostile, to him, and he must find a way to connect in this crisis. All this is set in both the bustling urban and unspoiled Hawaii - and to further complicate matters, As executor of an estate including a huge and gorgeous swath of virgin Hawaiian seashore granted to his great great great grandparents by the King, from whom his family is descended, Matt has an imminent deadline to reluctantly sell the property to developers. Oh, he also finds his wife hid secrets that suddenly arise, as well. Clooney is well-suited to this role. He's charming, noble, ethical, a bit in denial and has some issues with empathy and affection, but is a good guy we can all admire and with whom we can sympathize. To me, a standout in a supporting role, was young Nick Krause, who plays a 'surfer dude-type' friend of Matt's teenage daughter, alternately riling the adults and offering gems of authentic teen wisdom and support that oft times steal scenes from the other cast members. He was a joy. While I appreciate the nod to Hawaiian heritage and the references to island history and culture, I do wish the Hawaiian music, which plays almost continuously, would have been less ubiquitous. It becomes distracting at times. A great film all-around. Worth a look. I bought the dvd and love it more each viewing.

MJB784 It had a thoughtful story and laughs and the characters were mostly interesting. Great stories are worth telling many times and this one was good while it lasted. The ending just stopped.

chetanchopra012 The Descendants is a movie about a man in mid-life crisis and how he successfully manages to come out of it. Matt(GC) is the sole trustee of a huge piece of land and a lawyer. He has never really bothered to care about his two precocious daughters, Scotti and Alexandra, 10 and 17 respectively. The problem arises when his wife suffers a brutal head injury because she was adventurous enough to ride a motorboat. This is when things take a downturn for Matt as he has to now take care of his daughters on his own. Meanwhile he also finds out that his wife was having an affair at the time of her accident. It crushes him and afterwards he decides to confront the culprit too. Clooney has give n a nice performance in thiis one. It is worth a watch!

Zev I really liked Payne's previous movies and this one came very close to being another great, male-character-study, drama and light comedy. It's about a man who finds himself faced with a handful of life-changing crises all at once, all of them connected. His estranged wife is in a coma and may die, he suddenly finds himself forced to develop a relationship with his two difficult daughters, he discovers there has been an affair, and the paradise land he has been entrusted with has to be sold off to commercial interests.I liked most of it a lot, except for how the plot threads are tied up, most of them fading away or ending on very weak notes. Which means that this movie screams potential and is enjoyable for most of the time, then ends with a whimper.*big spoilers warning*His relationship with his daughters is the best thing in the movie, serving also the comedy and heart of the movie, with a quiet and satisfying ending.But the main plot thread about Matt is highly confused and petty. The reason for not selling the land is obviously not about saving it from commercial development like he pretends, but about getting revenge against the guy for sleeping with his wife so that he won't get the commissions. He makes a big deal about an ideal of keeping the land untainted, which never bothered him before until he found out the commissions would go to this guy. So he screws over a few dozen people just to get revenge on one. Turns out he is both petty and hypocritical. Somehow everyone seems to have missed this.His roller-coaster emotions about his wife and her affair are good for a while, but end very hollow with an unrealistically loving and forgiving speech after all that he found out about her, especially given his estrangement until then.Oh, and I found the Hawaiian elevator-music soundtrack annoying.And the secondary plot threads? Sid is an incredibly insensitive mildly amusing jerk at first, then suddenly stops being a jerk and tells a sob story. Hardly good character development there. Elizabeth's father blames everyone except his daughter and is horrible to everyone, except he cries for his daughter so we are supposed to feel sorry for him. Speer's wife has a good role with a complex ending when she comes to the hospital and her grand gesture turns into a rant. So her character does well. But, like I said, the main plot threads of the land and Matt's search to find the man who turned him into a cuckold both end on a really petty note. What a waste of a good movie.