Downsizing asks audiences to look down as scientists have discovered a means to combat overpopulation and better sustain the Earth. The solution is called "downsizing," or the ability to shrink humans down to the height of five inches, and it's quickly becoming a hot commodity because it enables the "downsized" to conserve their resources and live like little kings. Paul Safranek, an occupational therapist for Omaha Steaks, and his wife Aubrey see all the advantages of "downsizing" and decide they'd like to miniaturize themselves and move to a "downsized" community.
Alexander Payne directs the miniature venture in addition to writing the screenplay alongside Jim Taylor, and the concept they've concocted is compelling on paper to be sure, but not all too interesting in execution. Payne and his vfx team appropriately scale things for a cutesy comedic effect, but Downsizing never really goes beyond that, and even manages to squander the fun of shrinking down. At least Honey, I Shrunk The Kids and Ant-Man were able to toy around with the concept in fun and interesting ways. Downsizing uses the gimmick for a couple jokes, forgets about it almost entirely, and proceeds to meander around as a meaningless movie.
Once the film ended, I had absolutely no idea what the point of any of it seemed to be... Downsizing's purpose was pointless, so it was a real Rebel without a Cause. Payne clearly had a lot to say about sustaining the environment, but his message is haphazardly communicated. If Payne wanted to make a comedy about shrinking down, fine. Go out and make that. If Payne was looking to make a smart social satire, fine. Go out and make that. However, Payne barely blends those two ideologies, and the end result was a sorry excuse for a smoothie that left an awful taste in my mouth.
I found it especially ironic that in a film about changing size, hardly any of the characters experienced any growth whatsoever. In fact, the characters hardly had any depth to begin with. The only character with any substance at all was Ngoc Lan Tran, and the way her character was utilized came across as a vaguely racist stereotype... I'm sure if I were Asian, I probably would be offended by the fact she's turned into the butt of almost every joke.
Now, Matt Damon is an actor I admire for not only delivering fine performances in films like Good Will Hunting, Saving Private Ryan, The Martian, and the Bourne trilogy, but also because he's genuinely well-behaved compared to most actors in Hollywood. However, this has got to be one of the most mediocre roles I've seen from him since perhaps We Bought a Zoo... I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Damon showed up purely for the paycheck because his character is extraordinary bland to the point I had absolutely no idea what his character's name was afterwards.
Christoph Waltz is another actor I quite like, but his role here was too weird for my taste. Waltz strides about with an especially eccentric accent and the attitude of a partying playboy, and it's incredibly odd... Like a man of his talents shouldn't be bothering himself with things like this... Especially when he's got two Oscars on his mantle. If there's one shining star among the cast though, it's undoubtedly Hong Chau as Ngoc Lan Tran. Her character comes across as racist by no fault of her own, but simply on account of Payne's depiction of her. Chau makes the most of things though, and easily steals the show as the most layered performer in the star studded ensemble. While I don't think she's quite deserving of the awards acclaim she's started to receive, I'm glad people are at least appreciative of her for turning in a fine performance, and I hope to see this influence wider recognition for Asian actors in the industry.
Oh yeah, and Kristen Wiig is in this, but you probably will forget about her two-dimensional vanilla character halfway through the movie. Some may consider this a slight spoiler, but it's in the trailers and I don't think you should waste your time actually watching this mess, so I'm going to proceed as if it's not. Wiig's character, Aubrey, decides not to shrink down with Paul and the two divorce. There's never really any prior inclination that Aubrey was hesitant of proceeding because the film hardly spends any time with her. She's just kind of there with little to do or say.
Neil Patrick Harris and Laura Dern also have a BRIEF cameo for whatever reason that honestly could have been done by any actor and actress. I'm not really sure why Harris and Dern were cast, other than potentially for the purposes of bolstering the film's star power, but good luck remembering that they even swung by when it's all over.
In case you weren't able to tell already, you probably should shrink your expectations for this one. The premise was promising, but Downsizing just couldn't measure up to its enormous potential.
No comments:
Post a Comment