Downsizing - Vivere alla grande

I wouldn't describe this movie as a comedy. Actually, the script touches a very important topic in my opinion. The trailer only showcases the first half of the movie, but all the exciting stuff comes after that. I would say this movie is actually about more than the fun aspect of being able to live life at a perspective from 10 centimeters tall. It's about the way life can be cruel, love and making decisions. Nice movie, absolutely worth the watch.

The easiest part to get of writer/director Alexander Payne's sci-fi comedy, Downsizing, is the allegory of shrinking ourselves and our possessions to miniature to save the planet from our excess yet become miniature plutocrats in the process. The more challenging part is to understand how he can pack climate change and economic decay also into his themes.

Paul (Matt Damon), an occupational therapist who at best is just a nice guy, and his ambitious wife, Audrey (Kristen Wiig), decide to have a richer life by downsizing, but contrary to our conventional use of that term. To shrink means to have a bigger miniature mansion, the kind he couldn't afford in a regular size that his shrinking paycheck keeps him from. Of course, in his decision to help out the planet, he is really helping to mitigate his envy of his richer friends in their McMansions.

Payne and co-writer Jim Taylor deftly move the Twilight-Zone story into a melodrama that stresses the humanity of a man who forsakes family and friends for a seemingly higher purpose such as saving the environment. However, it still comes back to greed.

At least until Paul experiences caring for those less fortunate than he, for those shrunk but still with relatively nothing, viz., the poor, the immigrant, and the sick to name a few disadvantaged souls living in a ghetto-tenement world far from the eyes of the advantaged. Once Paul witnesses real poverty he can never turn back to his truly shrunken life of excess and worthlessness.

Where Payne veers from the staples of his drama is bringing in an apocalyptic climate change, a danger not even appearing earlier. More than that misplaced motif is that he has nicely set up already the humanity that will save Paul, who must choose between survival and being together for however long with the ones he truly loves.

Downsizing is rare, a comedy in sci-fi mode with a toolbox of social concerns. It's a child of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids with a Twilight Zone spirit, and it's a pleasant holiday diversion.

Very much a movie of 2 halves. The first half is an interesting, funny and thoughtful look at what 'downsizing' is and its implications and seemed to set up what could have been an excellent movie. However, the second half goes off at a tangent and starts to explore something completely different - and not in a good way. The whole second half has little reference to the titular 'downsizing' concept and whole sections could have been cut out of it without affecting the movie. Left me feeling disappointed as it could have been very good.

Pretty much agreeing with most of the reviews saying this movie has a good first half and a derailed second part.

The initial premise is pure food for thought, the possibilities of for the story ahead are enormous, endless, I was even watching it thinking it would make a great series, since there's so much to explore.

Instead, pretty much from the second third, more than second half, the story drifts away from the premise, leaving the viewer with a few (some very annoying) characters going on with their uninteresting lives and the fact that they're downsized becomes completely irrelevant, besides the housing and places where they're living.

It's really weird to see how irrelevant the actual title of the movie is in the second part.

Definitely a bad script over a good idea.

Director writer, here, so I have to say bad direction too.

I was told about this half and half thing on this movie, wanted to give it a chance since I found the theme very interesting, but the movie ended up a complete bore-feast and even warned I was hugely disappointed.

I don't really understand why it has such low ratings. And I was truly puzzled by that during the first half of the movie, as I thought the premise was original and interesting, the plot was engaging, and the actors were all great; I was loving it. But then it starts declining in quality and pace, and towards the end it feels like the story doesn't quite know what it wants to be or convey. That's a real shame because it could have been truly great from beginning to end. So it would be a bit difficult for me to recommend unless you're just a fan of any of the actors as they are giving they're best here.