MovieChat Forums > The Descendants (2011) Discussion > Bad dialogue. Bad acting. Bad editing. B...

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

posted 13 years ago by kareldc2
97 replies | jump to latest

The films starts with 5 minutes of voice over by Clooney. Red flag #1...

Huge cliche of a story. Tragedy happens within family and shakes them up while they grow closer to each other.

Because of that enormous cliche most of the characters next to Clooney are generic. The comic relief boyfriend. The little sister who is too young to understand what is going on. The older daughter who initially hates her father but who grows closer to him as the movie progresses.

The film is structured as being a road movie without being one. Noting bad with that but perhaps watch Little Miss Sunshine if you like that. It's a good movie that is actually about something. I think the director also liked that movie but forgot to copy the most important part.

Don't go see this. Really. Some of the scenes are so weird that it feels like a 12 year old did the cut.

Also the most ridiculous scene in the whole film (for me at least) takes place at the end of the film when Judy Greer's character burst out in tears. Over a person who she has never met. Who her husband was seeing on the side. A character who only made 2 brief appearances in the movie until then but who we are supposed to emphasize with?!?!

I ran out of the theatre when I saw the performance of the little girl hearing her mother was going to die. So bad.

Without looking back.

[–] Snak3 13 years ago

Dude...go and watch tom&jerry and don't bother watching grown-up movies...nothing else to say....

David Lynch-"While I was doing Eraserhead I had40coffees every day and I smoked 40 cigarettes."

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] KopCity 13 years ago

I'D GIVE IT 6.5/10 CERTAINLY NOT A 7.6

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] anniemarty 13 years ago

kareldc2 AMEN

I thought I was the only one thinking this movie was a huge bag of *beep*

I hated the Sid character, painfully stupid and useless, so irrelevant compared to the rest of the film

three words : bad bad bad

[–] jlkap 13 years ago

Again, haven't seen the film yet, but this film seems to be shaping up as this year's "The Kids Are Alright" The only thing I liked about that movie was Annette Benning's performance. She was good.

Everything else about it was "been there done that" and just another dysfunctional family thing just attempting to to shock us in an unusual way.

Mark Ruffalo is an underrated actor but he wasn't a best supporting actor nor did this movie deserve all the praise it got. It had strengths but quickly moved away from those strenghths and fell into obscurity and blahness.

In the end I understood the title and all but this movie was a failed attempt to show us the trials and tribulations of a dysfunctional family in a heartfelt way. I didn't care for one character except for Annette Benning and the children. From what I'm getting here...this is what the Descendants sounds like.

Average film but in no way deserving of awards shower. Sound like an accurate take?

[–] ceace21 12 years ago

"Average film but in no way deserving of awards shower. Sound like an accurate take?"

No - and how can you possibly say this when you admit you haven't even seen the movie before posting??!!

[–] theoffice11 12 years ago

Just saw this film and definitely agree that it was an "Average film but in no way deserving of awards shower" Actually it redeemed itself towards the end cause the beginning was off to a rocky start with some overly wordy dialogue and flat acting. It did seem like the actors all started to find their range later on into the production and there were some touching scenes towards the end.

I appreciate them trying to cast some natives and non actors for some of the roles but their lack of acting experience really showed. The editing could have also been a bit stronger; overall the film did do what it set out to do and probably with a small budget cause it has a low budget feel to it, but could have been crafted better. I just think back to the Station Agent, which was a very low budget film which was way more successful imo because there was an honesty to it and was just focused on letting the characters tell their story. Rhis film was striving for that honesty, which shows in spots, but other spots feel like it's also trying to please the audience and resolve everything in a standard Hollywood way. It was decent but could have been much more in the hands of a more capable director.

[–] bradman-neelabh 13 years ago

I quite liked the film. And some of the scenes were pretty emotional; and I mean that's what movies are supposed to do, right? Create a realistic (and perhaps relevant) situation to viewers out of the cameras? I liked Clooney's acting, probably not his best, but for a character like his I couldn't imagine anyone else playing it any better. The most notably interesting thing about this film was how some characters kept changing as it progressed, the daughter for instance, I first thought was going to a pain in the a$$ to her dad but over time made sure that she was up to the challenge of being his support AND of her little sister. The boyfriend, we all assumed was a goofy kid (which he was) but maintained decency later on (after feeling the situation). I also like how the dad kept openly expressing signs of being completely naive about parenthood especially at a time like that. Brian's wife was a cheerful lady at the beginning but nearly lost it at the end, clearly not knowing how to react to a dying woman who had her cheated.

The soundtrack was unignorably awesome and very well themed for its physical surrounding.

Not the best movie but by far WAY better than that garbage The Artist. 5 Oscars. Being a serious movie fan, that hurts, to say the least!

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[–] mudlo 13 years ago

I wish I had read this before I went to see this movie. I had reservations cause I hated Sideways, it was a waste of time. Half a dozen stories not told well. I got no sense of the drama just felt like I was watching a movie in a language I did not understand.

Why he won any acclaim or awards is beyond me.

[–] ajj231-1 13 years ago

I find George Clooney very watchable in anything, a bit like Matt Damon, they have a certain screen magnetism that gets my interest. I like 'simple' films that make the actors, writers and directors earn their money and not rely on FX and grand set-pieces. This film was satisfactory, not the best or worst, without Clooney it definitely would not have had the recognition it has attracted, but I enjoyed it.

Beau Bridges should have had a goatee though and that would have finished his 'dude' impression nicely.