Downsizing review

DOWNSIZING:

AN INTERESTING CONCEPT WITH SOLID ACTING, BUT NEVER QUITE LIVES UP TO ITS FULL POTENTIAL!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4

PARAMOUNT PICTURES

The next big thing is Downsizing

            Director, Alexander Payne (Election, Sideways, The Descendants) returns with his latest film, the sci-fi comedy-drama, Downsizing. The film has a very interesting concept about a society of people who become small to live a life of luxury with less money, and I was intrigued and actually hyped for this movie when I first saw the trailers.

            Most of Payne’s directing work have been wins to me, at least from what I’ve seen, Election and Sideways I found flat-out hilarious and very well-acted and executed, and The Descendants was a beautiful and emotional experience that actually got my teary-eyed when I first saw it. And despite critics and audiences being split on it, I actually have a soft-spot for the movie, About Schmidt, then again you cast Jack Nicholson in something and I’m usually onboard.

            So, an Alexander Payne-directed movie about people who turn small and starring Matt Damon (Bourne franchise, The Martian, Suburbicon), Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids, Ghostbusters (2016), Sausage Party), and Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds, Water for Elephants, Django Unchained)? Count me in! Well, I sat down in the theater and watched the film and…came out a little disappointed.

            Not to say it’s awful or even a bad movie but I felt it never quite took advantage of its concept and instead becomes another generic film about identity and finding your purpose in life. It’s similar to the complaints I had with 2015’s Tomorrowland where the world it created was very imaginative but it’s hardly explored and it left me feeling underwhelmed.

            Set in the near future when scientists discover how to shrink humans to five inches tall as a solution to over-population, a married couple, Paul (Damon) and Audrey (Wiig) decide to abandon their stress-filled lives in favor of going through the procedure known as Downsizing and move to a new downsized community, where economic wealth and class can be achieved with less money. In the downsized world, a $52,000 budget translates to $12.5 million and now the everyman can live like royalty…by simply getting small.

            What used to be simple walks in the park are now big, life-changing adventures as Paul and Audrey venture into the unknown with the choice that will affect their lives forever. Was Downsizing really a good idea? Did they make a mistake? Will, one of them bail out at the last minute?

            The film also stars Waltz as Dusan Mirkovic, Hong Chau (Treme, Inherent Vice) as Ngoc Lan Tran, Jason Sudeikis (30 Rock, We’re the Millers, Colossal) as Dave Johnson, Maribeth Monroe (Parks and Recreation, Key & Peele, The Brink) as Carol Johnson, Udo Kier (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Grindhouse, Nymphomaniac) as Joris Konrad, and Rolf Lassgård (The Death of a Pilgrim, Another Time, Another Life, A Man Called Ove) as Dr. Jørgen Asbjørnsen.

            Overall, Downsizing is a pretty mediocre flick that’s filled with interesting sounding ideas that should be explored and once in a while some legitimately funny and at times dramatic moments but they’re not fully developed and the script doesn’t allow those moments to shine. Also pacing wise, it’s not very good, there’s no real backstory to the Downsizing concept and machine, where did the Downsizing machine come from? When was the idea first conceived? What’s the history behind it? These questions are never answered and if they were it probably would have stood stronger as a film, we’re just supposed to accept the fact that there’s a machine in a society very similar to ours that shrinks people.

            At least in films like Honey, I Shrunk the Kids or even Marvel’s Ant-Man they had more of a fantasy element that allowed us to buy that a shrinking machine exists in modern times and it works. I feel like Downsizing has so many interesting ideas thought up but they were never fully realized and didn’t have much of a coherent story to back them up.

            I don’t care about Matt Damon feeling like a nobody trapped in an odd world where he doesn’t matter, I want to see the world explored. Because the design of the downsized community looks very impressive and I’d like to see how it functions, what facilities are like, how banks or food services work, these are all sounding like interesting concepts but the movie doesn’t allow the viewer to experience it.

            In terms of performances everyone’s solid, Matt Damon’s performance here is much more serviceable than his awkward and disturbing performance from Suburbicon, Kristen Wiig gets a decent laugh here and there despite not appearing in it much (I’ll just leave it at that), Christoph Waltz is always a joy to watch and it’s refreshing to see him not play a villain character for once, and he gets some funny lines in the film.

            Sadly, the cast isn’t enough to save the movie from its wasted premise, this could have been a great adventure comedy-drama about people becoming small and living in a small society. It’s not one of the worst films I’ve seen this year but with a concept like this, it should have been so much better.