Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on May 2012

Alexander Payne has righteously earned a reputation for his unique observations and wry comments on the human condition. As with Election, About Schmidt and Sideways, this one’s about decisions. George Clooney, working effectively outside his suave comfort zone, plays a busy Hawaiian real estate lawyer who sees himself as a kind of standby parent to his two daughters, aged 17 and 10 (an excellent Shailene Woodley and a spot-on Amara Miller). He is facing the difficult decision of pulling the plug on his injured, brain-dead wife when he learns that she had been fooling around and was preparing to ask for a divorce. At the same time, he’s the one who has to make a decision for his extended and openly avaricious clan on selling a large tract of inherited, unspoiled land for a golf course and resort. Though it’s an intensely emotional story, Payne navigates confidently through the potential mawkishness by maintaining his trademark sense of humor, and the result is a blend of wit and poignancy that’s emotionally satisfying yet intellectually energizing. This is not easy to do. Call it a near-perfect movie on human imperfections. And see it.