Movie Reviews

Hawaii isn’t paradise, real estate agent Matt King (George Clooney) tells us as The Descendants (15A) begins, because despite all the sunshine and palm trees, Hawaiians have the same problems as everyone else.

Matt’s most pressing issue is that his wife is in a coma after a speed-boat accident, but as his life begins to unravel, and he realises the extent to which he has distanced himself from his daughters Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) and Scottie (Amara Miller), Matt struggles to cope with a looming mid-life crisis, particularly when he learns from Alexandra that his wife was having an affair and planned to divorce him. Despite the Hawaiian setting, Alexander Payne’s latest film explores very similar territory to his most celebrated offerings, About Schmidt (2002) and Sideways (2004), whereby Matt gradually learns to embrace his failings as a husband and father through a number of potentially confrontational but understated vignettes. Clooney burnishes his credentials yet again with a thoughtful and restrained performance, even if his greying hair and slightly bedraggled appearance doesn’t fully convince us as to why any sane woman would throw over such a handsome, gentle and successful husband for an affair with the rather plain and grasping Brian (Matthew Lillard). Clooney is sufficiently a movie star to distract us from such misgivings, and a good enough actor to underplay his role to allow his co-stars shine, with Lillard, Robert Forster, Beau Bridges and young Amara Miller all benefiting from his generosity. But it’s the core relationship, that between Matt and his rebellious teenage daughter Alexandra, that carries the film. The comi-tragic tone doesn’t always convince, and Payne’s ambition doesn’t extend far enough beyond pathos to truly enthral, but otherwise this is an engaging, heartfelt melodrama.

Man on a Ledge (12A) sounds like one of those high concept flicks, such as Snakes on a Plane (2006), in which the title gives you all the plot synopsis you need. Asger Leth’s thriller is a little more devious and complicated than that, however; Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington) has more than suicide on his mind when he steps onto a hotel window ledge, and demands to see NYPD negotiator Lydia Mercer (Elizabeth Banks). Jailed for stealing a diamond worth $40m, disgraced cop Nick has escaped from prison and is demanding a fair hearing and his wrongful conviction be overturned. Or is he? Fans of fast-paced, twisting thrillers should enjoy Man on a Ledge, which is told more or less in real time, and segues between Cassidy’s vertigo-inducing experience on the window ledge and a tautly executed (although scarcely believable) bank heist courtesy of Nick’s brother Joey (Jamie Bell) and his girlfriend Angie (Genesis Rodriguez). As strong on tension as it is riddled with implausibility, the story thrives on a knowing sense of humour that isn’t above spoofing its own faults, in particular Bell and Rodriguez bickering their way through a lovers’ spat as they break into the most heavily protected vault this side of Fort Knox. Fun, punchy and playfully ironic, Man on a Ledge is a solid slice of popcorn entertainment.