I was able to check out an advanced screening of the new George Clooney movie, The Descendants. Not since 1983′s Terms Of Endearment, has a movie blended emotional family drama with such sharp-edged humor like The Descendants does.

Matt King (Clooney) is an indifferent husband and father of two girls, who is forced to re-examine his past and embrace his future when his wife suffers a boating accident off of Waikiki. The event leads to a rapprochement with his young daughters while Matt wrestles with a decision to sell the family’s land handed down from Hawaiian royalty and missionaries.

Creating even more family chaos, Matt learns that his comatose wife was having an affair. What ensues is a delicate balance between two plot lines. The future of the family wealth and the future of this fractured family.

For a guy who is dead-set against marriage and having kids, Clooney comes off as a natural. From the first minute in, you truly believe he could be the father of these wild girls. Scottie (Amara Miller) is 10 years old who feels perfectly fine with flippin’ the bird at anyone she dislikes. Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) is a 17 year old rebel who enjoys partying and telling her parents what she really thinks of them. Woodley is a star in the making and I’d be shocked if she isn’t nominated for best supporting actress.

The setting looks like a paradise, but from King’s opening voice-over monologue, we quickly learn that a Hawaiian paradise does not shield us from everyday troubles.

Alexander Payne (About Schmidt, Sideways) has provided us with a rare experience. A family movie that is R-rated. The curse words fly out as if they are just everyday language in this film and it works because  that’s how we all talk when life gives us a kick in the ass. There isn’t a dishonest sentence in the film and the ending just might have you asking for a tissue or two.

I don’t know if The Descendants will win best picture, but it certainly needs to be considered. The more gray hairs George Clooney gets the better his performances have become. 15 years ago did you ever think George Clooney would give some of the finest performances of the 21st century? Syriana, Michael Clayton, Up In The Air and now The Descendants.

I give THE DESCENDANTS **** out of ****.