>The voice-over narration that tells you people in Hawaii
>don't hang out and go to the beach all day - then they spend
>the majority of the movie hanging out and going to the beach?

This is the hill you're choosing to die on? The "he said they weren't gonna be on the beach but now they're on the beach" hill? Really?

You are aware that stuff happens during the course of the story that might lead this guy to the beach, right? That for a person who starts out saying shit like "no one goes to the beach" but ends up going to the beach is something along the lines of, like, story progression, right?

I mean, we could waste further valuable time on this particular nitpick by making a minor argument if we needed to that the guy could be considered an unreliable narrator, but fuck that, the voice over's inconsistent and therefore some bullshit, so we'll move on.


>The voice-over narration that tells you about scenes that you
>then see? As in, "I'm the backup parent, I don't know what to
>do" then see the scene that shows that; "I've got all this
>land to do something with" then the scene that shows that.

My memory may be bad cause I'm old and shit, but it sounds like you're describing, like, the first 20 minutes or so of the movie. You know, when things get discussed (ie, ideas get introduced) then we see what he's talking about. Which, like, helps establish the world that we're in. But hey, I mean, the "they're telling and not showing" note is fine if you're trying to take a misleading tack and say that the movie did more telling than showing, which is actually not the same movie that I saw.


>The voice-over that disappears for the entire second act, only
>to reappear for five minutes in third act?

Again, this is the hill you choose to die on? The voice over hill? Really?


>The lack of anyone's concern for the wife when she's in a coma
>during the first act? I'm sorry, but that whole "we're
>Hawaiians, we're laid back, we're real casual with our
>concern" shit don't work.

"Lack of concern?" Were we supposed to spend the first 30 minutes of the movie with CLOONEY and the kids holding vigil around the hospital bed? The characters have shit to do. CLOONEY has to rustle up his kids, go over his wife's will, talk to her friends about having a gathering, talk about the land development that's up for sale, as well as talk to the father-in-law... and that's all BEFORE he finds out about the affair. There's, like, a story being told here, and it's not about showing concern for the wife in the first act.

And even if there was a mysterious "we're Hawaiians, we're laid back, we're real casual with our concern shit" (as you're arguing) that is seen in the first 30 minutes of the story, that whole notion is COMPLETELY OBLITERATED by the final half of the movie.


>The movie's lack of focus between the wife dying, Clooney
>looking for the other man, Clooney dealing with his kids, the
>land sale. It really couldn't decide until the third act what
>it was gonna be about, which is lame 'cause you know the end
>of the movie is going to be about the dying wife.

Did you not understand how each of those ties into the dying wife? Clooney looking for the other man is the direct result of finding out that he was having an affair with... wait for it... his dying wife! Oh shit! Clooney "dealing with his kids" is the direct result of... wait for it... his dying wife! ZOMG! Everything that happens is the result of his wife being put in a coma. She's clearly the rock of the family. She's the one who apparently has handled everything up to this point. Her coma throws everything into chaos, especially for her husband, who up to this point thought all he had to do was provide and keep the lights on. NOPE! This man's busy-ness has caught up to him, his aloof-ness when it comes to his wife and his daughters has caught up to him, and now he suddenly has to juggle and make major adjustments to his life, now he is finally forced to make room for his family -- including the family that will hate him for literally not selling out. And now this man ultimately has to ask for forgiveness from all involved, especially the wife, who, in an ironic/tragic twist, can't do it.

I honestly have no idea why you're harping on "care for the dying wife," because that is not what this story's about.


>I'm a big fan of Clooney's, but it really is him just looking
>sad for 2 hours. He's got one look on his face the entire
>time.

Yeah, but except he wasn't, because in the movie that I saw and described, CLOONEY's face showed more of a range of emotions other than "sad." Especially when he had to deal with one daughter who took several pictures of her comatose mother and put them in a scrapbook then tried to call it art. And when he had to grit his teeth and listen to Laird Hamilton, the guy who drove the boat, talk about how racked with guilt he was, in the presence of that same daughter. And when he had to deal with another daughter who simply told him that she was bringing along her friend (she didn't ask him, she told him, which really set off my Negro Parenting Alarm), and when he had to interact with that friend. And when he found out about his wife's affair from said oldest daughter. And when he had to take shit from his father-in-law, who chastised him for being a bad husband and said that "she never cheated on you, Matt, and she deserved better." And when he ran into his wife's sidepiece on the beach (uh-oh!). Then showed up at the jumpoff's house (with his daughter -- WHAT?!?!?!?!!) and talked to his wife...

If you could only find a sad face in all of those scenes, then you're a better dude than me, because it simply wasn't there in the movie that I saw.


>Taking your family with you to track down the other man? I'm
>hard pressed to blame that solely on "well, he doesn't know
>how to be a parent."

Well, who else was going to watch them? His wife's friends? And plot-wise, if the teenage girl knows more about the man her mother was having an affair with, if I'm Matt, I probably want to get that info from her and bring her along. And besides, who's to say that they're just there to help Matt "track down the other man?" Who's to say that they're not, I dunno, bonding more with him on the trip, and, I dunno, helping him heal and cope with everything that's going on? Since they're, like, his daughters and shit? Nah, fuck that, yo, let's just blame the disappearing (and lying!) voice over for that plot contrived bullshit.


>The oldest daughter definitely steals the show, but she's also
>the only character we see actually go through anything
>emotionally.

Hmm. Not really. Because in the movie that I saw, she's about the only character who, despite showing up drunk in her first scene, actually appears to have her shit together emotionally. And yes, that even includes when she dunks herself in the pool to cry about her moms. That's about the only time that she goes through anything emotionally. Oh, wait, it was also done out of view from everyone else.

Hmm. Seems to me that if she "were going through anything emotionally" -- aside from acting like a fuck-up until she finds out about her mom -- it would have happened outside of the pool, wouldn't it?

And in the movie that I saw, she's actually kind of, like, I dunno, a ROCK for her father as he goes on this mad quest to find out who's been boning his wife, a wife that he was neglectful of.

Hmm.


It baffles me that you could type, "she's also the only character we see actually go through anything emotionally" when you have SETPIECES like CLOONEY angrily yelling at his wife after he finds out about her affair, and his last scene in the hospice (not the beach!!!!!!) when he cries and apologizes and kisses his wife on her crusty-ass lips. And when you have Robert Forster going in on CLOONEY's failures as a husband and father in both of the scenes that he was in. And when you have Judy Greer show up and tearfully talk to/yell at CLOONEY's wife.

I mean, seriously.


>The "something funny during something sad" shtick is just that
>- a shtick.

And in the movie that I saw, the "shtick" worked.


You're much better than this, man, I'm disappointed... you didn't have to dig the movie, but gotDAMN...

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Scared money don't...