Bad dialogue. Bad acting. Bad editing. Bad everything?

I'm not sure we saw the same movie. I agree that some aspects of the movie were "cliche"....but many stories that are told follow a basic formula. That in and of itself is not a bad thing-many movies are based on plays by William Shakespeare who probably stole the ideas from someone else ( just kidding).

But I disagree about Judy Greer's scene. And "comic relief" boyfriend. The boyfriend isn't there for comic relief, he is there to highlight the idea about the assumptions people make. The character who reacts most strongly to the "boyfriend" is the dying woman's father, who's "assumptions" are what allow him to believe that his daughter was a perfect, faithful wife AND that Clooney was a terrible husband and worse man. It only highlights his misperceptions, when Clooney let's him go on believing that she was perfect and he was an a-hole. We the audience, assume that the boyfriend is an idiot with absolutely no depth because he fit our preconceived notion of the idiot, comic relief boyfriend. Our snap judgments mirror Clooney's character's and thus when Syd, shows wisdom and/or sensitivity we feel a little ashamed that we were so quick to assume we knew what he was about. The judgment passed by the dying woman's father is never confronted, but when the family looks through the hospital door and sees him looking broken and devastated by his daughter's situation, we see them gain the understanding that this father is no more two dimensional than any other character. It is the over-arching theme of the movie, completed by the notion that Hawaii is a place where everything's beautiful and everyone surfs all day...it's all about assumptions.

And Judy Greer's scene wasn't about us "emphasizing" (empathizing, sympathizing you mean, yes?)...it wasn't about her at all. It was about Clooney's reaction to it. The woman is unloading on the comatose woman...and I suspect if she had done the same thing earlier in the movie, before Clooney had a chance to "work through" his own anger and betrayal, he likely would have let her go on without interrupting. It was to show where Clooney was...Greer was immaterial.

I quite liked Clooney's performance. Not sure how people say he is just "playing himself". He is a professional bachelor, good time Charlie with no children. He plays a good intentioned father, who had some mirror looking to do. He responds to the idea that he could have been a better father, a better husband, a better descendant in a very understated way. I thought he was quite good in a movie that was sometimes slow.

I have studied and taught psychology and sociology for forty years. I have worked a few times as a co-therapist. I found the actions of characters in the movie believable. The average person might not have reacted the way the characters acted, but some people would have. I saw the movie with a nurse who has often worked with severely injured people and their families. I checked on my impressions by asking her several times whether depictions of treatment of the ill in the movie were ones she had observed. Her answer was always "Yes."
Yes, a woman experiencing the crisis Judy Greer's character experienced could have burst into tears and confronted the ill by saying "I forgive you" in a way that was very accusatory.
With respect to another criticism by someone else, Clooney's character runs to his wife's best friend's house because he desperately wants to know what his wife had done and he thinks the best friend knows that.
I have seen many good films, like The Swan and The Help, which, in pursuit of telling some higher truth, include several scenes that are psychologically or sociologically impossible or extremely improbable. To me, The Descendents is a realistic film which incorporates only the feasible with two exceptions. The daughter's boyfriend is a little too much of a doofus. The ending is too pat.
As for the acting, the actress playing the daughter just won the Independent Spirit award for the equivalent of Best Actress. I think she really deserved it.
Clooney's character is supposed to be emotionally unexpressive. Clooney conveys his feelings with nuances.

Disagree with you.
George Clooney deserve the Oscar for best actor, probably the movie doesn't deserve the best picture, but the movie is very well made. My opinion.

Not true, the dialogue really works and is perfect for this film. The editing was indeed crappy, however.

What are you talking about the movie was definatley not really bad this movie is the best i really loved it!!!! :)

Haven't actually seen the film but GC has always been hit or miss for me. I like Alex Payne although he hasn't done a whole lot of directing. About Schmidt was ok and I loved both Election and Sideways.

George Clooney is a slight enigma. When he's good he's really good but it's usually the movie around him that's great and he's there fitting in as a piece. EX - Up in the Air - probably my favorite movie of his where he gives his best performance - but you can't discount the great supporting cast in which he played his part terrifically but in no way could have carried that film by himself without the amazing writing and supporting cast, direction and writing. But then you have a movie like Syriana - I fell asleep 15 minutes in. Michael Clayton - not sure where that one came from.

And then you have the goofy George Clooney - Leatherheads, O Brother Where Art Thou - good movies and Geoerge Clooney does well here. Three Kings was the movie that got me started on actually liking GC because before that I hated everything he did. He was always the head down guy from ER. Blaahh. 3 Kings was a step for him. So he's got a good body of work...not all fantastic but not all bad either. Still intrigued to see the film. Only reason, I heard horrible things about the movie Super 8, recently got in from Netflix and actually enjoyed it, despite some corny weird parts...overall an entertaining film. Just my take, don't destroy me.

I agree 100% with you. One of the worst movies I´ve seen lately (and I´ve seen lots of them). I found it very strange that it was nominated as Best Picture - and it won Best Screenplay! Just pathetic.

"Best Writing and Screenplay"! They should be kidding.. Joke of 2012!