Downsizing (2017)

I saw an interview where Matt Damon said that when director Alexander Payne first told him the plot to Downsizing he thought it was a joke. It's understandable that he would think that, the plot is pretty ridicules, a Norwegian scientist develops a process that can safely shrink people to around five inches in height, the scientists altruistic motives for developing this procedure is to ease mankind's stress on the environment, but most of the people who chose to undergo it do so that they may consume conspicuously at a reduced cost in specially built miniaturized retirement communities. It's the kind of film idea that one might expect to see Jack Black or Will Ferrell in, but Payne's film is not (largely) the domain of obvious jokes and gross out humor. In fact the implications of Downsizing are remarkable well thought out, such as most people requiring extensive dental work just before and just after downsizing, otherwise someone's crown could make their head explode as the procedure only works on organic material.

Long stuck in a midlevel position as an in-house occupational therapist for the Omaha Steak Company, Damon's Paul Safranek thinks 'downsizing' will be the solution to all his life's problems, but when his wife (Kristien Wiig) chickens out last minute after Paul has already undergone the procedure, it leads to divorce, Paul's working at a call center (a perfect job for shrunken people), and his questioning the very meaning of life. Payne has carved out a reliable niche for himself with often satirical films focusing on human weakness, but still evidencing an unusually strong sense of empathy for his characters, warts and all. Paul will come to meet a exiled Vietnamese activist forcibly shrunken by her government (Hong Chau) and a miniaturized Serbian playboy (Christoph Waltz) who will change the course of his life, and make him confront his place in the world. This is a movie that it is best to go into with some idea of the type of film your going to get, while its mostly traditional comedy for the first half, the second half gets kind of deep and a little brooding, which isn't for all audiences. I thought this movie really worked and looking forward to seeing it again in the future both for the things I'm sure I missed, as well as the movies small pleasures. Not quite on the level of Payne's great movies like About Schmidt, The Descendants and Nebraska, but close. ***1/2