Downsizing - movie review

Downsizing

Plot: A social satire in which a man realizes he would have a better life if he were to shrink himself to five inches tall, allowing him to live in wealth and splendor.
Cast: Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz, Hong Chau
Director: Alexander Payne
Certificate: 15 (strong language, drug misuse, sex references)
Runtime: 2hrs 15 mins
Release Date: Wednesday 24th January 2018

Imagine, if you will, Ant-Man. Now remove his superpowers yet keep him at his shrunken size. Finally, remove any sense of fun, enjoyment and comic book thrills and instead, transport him to a rural suburbia where he can live out his days like a regular middle aged man alongside others of his size. Oh, look. You're already sound asleep. Downsizing follows Matt Damon who, after making the big decision of downsizing into a miniscule man in the hope of protecting the environment and living a life of luxury, decides to live a boring and mundane life. Usually, I'd go more into the plot to give you a little taster of what to expect but that's honestly it. If you like Matt Damon wandering around aimlessly for two and a quarter hours, then Downsizing is the film for you. Unfortunately, it wasn't the film for me.

The world's most expensive dollhouse.

Films of this nature aren't unheard of and, depending on the right script and convincing performances, can work. Downsizing, despite an impressive visual effects effort, has taken a minimalist approach with the intention of fulfilling a number of philosophical questions instead to prioritising a plot. Except that's what Downsizing and director, Alexander Payne, think they're achieving. The actual end result turns out to be nothing more than a botched mess of a film that has no idea what it's trying to be. Is Downsizing a wacky, screwball comedy about a man shrinking down to the size of a paperclip? Is Downsizing a satire on healthcare and how, in America, only the wealthy can seem to afford it? Is Downsizing a social commentary on the importance of caring for our environment? These aren't necessarily rhetorical questions by myself. I'm genuinely reaching out to those that have seen Downsizing in the hope that they can tell me because I haven't got a bloody clue. Admittedly, Downsizing started off with some promise. The build up to Damon shrinking was interesting and it was fairly humorous to see a laddish conversation between a normal sized Matt Damon and a tiny Jason Sudeikis take place. Even the actual sequence of downsizing was entertaining to watch. This was the movie advertised to me. It was fun, quirky and told me not to take the science behind it too seriously. And then the film grinds to a screeching halt. As in it stops...completely. Without giving away a significant spoiler (which the trailers seemed happy to reveal), Damon undergoes a startling revelation soon after being shrunk causing him to mope around for the remaining ninety minutes or so. Unfortunately, Payne decides to mope alongside him and the narrative begins to drag its feet. I hate using this word but Downsizing is a boring film. Matt Damon is saddled with a poorly written lead who bares no charisma in the slightest and is impossible to attach to. Therefore, as he spends nearly two hours of the film waddling about in his tiny state, having parties with Christoph Waltz putting on a strange Russian accent and nipping off to Norway for a river cruise, literally nothing of value happens. For such a brilliant concept of posing Honey, I Shrunk The Adults, Payne's end result is more along the lines of Honey, I Shrunk The Adults & Made Them Boring.

Isn't that a little excessive? Just a petal would do.

FACT: Alexander Payne had originally wanted Paul Giamatti to play the Matt Damon role.

Finding some light at the end of the tunnel, Hong Chau is one of the most redeeming aspects to this film. Chau plays a Vietnamese maid for Waltz after she was involuntarily downsized. As well as cleaning, she also cares for the sick that are living in poverty. Her arc may be a bit clichéd but her performance is startlingly unique. Bordering on a potential slip into parody and insensitive stereotype, Chau's performance may sound like she's being vaguely racist but I found her to be very endearing and provide a number of well earned laughs. Some may (and have) called her out for the over-the-top accent and mannerisms but I found that she suited the wacky tone that was present in the first act. Sadly for Chau, this interest cannot sustain and she too falls victims to the uninspired plot. Downsizing isn't a terrible film by any means but rather that it just doesn't know what it is and what it's trying to do with itself. Think of it like a lazy bum who refuses to get a job. Deep down, you know that bum has a good heart but he just doesn't have the motivation to do anything. Even the novelty of seeing this tiny world come to life wears off almost instantaneously. Infuriatingly, this isn't because we grow tired of seeing these people interact with giant objects that we'd otherwise find regular sized, but rather that Payne never takes time to show this world. We see it for about five minutes and then get a few casual reminders for the rest of the film but apart from then, this movie could have been filmed at a regular size and it wouldn't have made any difference. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the downsizing portion of Downsizing is actually treated more as a gimmick. To make matters even worse, the film just ends without any significant conclusion or wrapping up the ill-written characters. In all fairness, there was never any build up to a worthwhile ending but it's disappointing to sit through two hours of bland nothingness only to be rewarded at the very end with more nothingness.

They're sitting in the VTP area. Very Tiny Person.

In short (see what I did there), Downsizing isn't worth your time, money or attention unless you want to see tiny Matt Damon shuffle across the screen for two hours doing practically nothing of merit. The concept had so much potential but as soon as the film shows any signs of promise, Payne rids that entirely delivering a film that I honestly think has the ability to cure insomnia.

My Verdict: 4/10

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