I know I'm going to sound like an ass but I can't believe how unoriginal Payne got while making this. It got huge nomina
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Alexander Payne
xynth90 — 14 years ago(March 06, 2012 08:06 AM)
I know I'm going to sound like an ass but I can't believe how unoriginal Payne got while making this. It got huge nominations and I instantly get this uneasy feeling of "I already know this film's tones". Kind of like with Crazy, Stupid Love with no good comedy in it.
"No! I'm in Touch with humanity."
-Patrick Bateman, American Psycho -
heyuactor — 14 years ago(March 07, 2012 07:35 PM)
Well I don't know about that but I watched some of it tonight and felt 'uneasy' and shut it off. Why everyone seems to revere it IDK.
Maybe it gets better later.
The mood was unpleasant and uninteresting to me.
Like, it's about big money and his painful tragedy, not my cup of tea.
"Did you make coffee? Make it!"Cheyenne. -
chas437 — 13 years ago(April 27, 2012 10:15 AM)
Yeah, I agree. I was a huge fan of Payne's four masterpiece film's, "Citizen Ruth", "Election", About Schmidt" and "Sideways". Those were some of the best and most original comedies made in the past 20 years. "Citizen Ruth" and "Election" in particular, were revelation's.
But since then, projects he's been associated with have been mediocre at best (except for "The Savages" which was very good, not great). I just watched "Cedar Rapids". I didn't see him listed as a writer or director, but it clearly had his finger prints all over it, so I wasn't surprised to see him listed as a producer. "Cedar Rapids" falls way short of Payne's earlier films, for lack of originality as much as anything else. Its a shame really, I don't know if Payne takes a more hands off approach in his recent projects, but since "Sideways" we haven't seen the signature, caricature driven, subversive Alexander Payne comedy.
I think he was at his best writting screen adaptations and directing. He seems to have pawned off his originality to lesser writters and directors? -
Ehrgeiz — 12 years ago(March 03, 2014 01:07 PM)
I think Descendants was a bit too straight and bland. I think it had some very sympathetic characters with King, his elder daughter and her loud-mouthed boyfriend, but besides it was a pretty standard family drama.
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katish7 — 11 years ago(April 20, 2014 02:19 PM)
I am rewatching it right now and feel, even more than after watching it for the first time a few years ago, that it's truly his masterpiece (though I'm yet to see Nebraska). This film is very layered, and it's more optimistic than his previous works. The Descendants is my favorite of his and one of my all time favorite films in general.