dvd of the week
Alexander Payne won another Oscar for his screenplay to this low-key dramedy about a man dealing with finding out that his comatose wife cheated on him, their problematic children, and a large family squabble about what to do with a huge track of Hawaiian land they inherited. George Clooney is more sensitive, subtle, funny and sympathetic than he has ever been, and as his daughter, Shailene Woodley is wise and prickly and, out of nowhere, a star. By no means Payne’s best movie – that would be Sideways – it is still a moving, affecting little movie about the meaning and power of family.
