The trailer for George Clooney’s newest film, The Descendants, has arrived, and it’s rather reflective of the usual style of its director, Alexander Payne (Election; About Schmidt). Kaiser finds Payne to be an overrated director, and I’d tend to agree for the most part. I think Payne has an overall good message and is adept at critiquing society, but I’m not crazy about the “whimsical” way that his characters go about their journeys of self discovery. Perhaps it’s more of a quirky soundtrack thing that really bothers me, but whatever the case, I don’t rush to see Payne’s films, which are usually just variants of the same sad-yet-funny theme.

With The Descendants, Payne moves away from his midwestern comfort zone to relocate his characers to a Hawaiian setting. Like Schmidt (Jack Nicholson), Clooney’s character is yet another unexceptional American alienated from his surroundings, which in this case just happens to be his marriage and family. It’s rather difficult to discuss the film’s synopsis without revealing what look to be very pivotal plot details, but Clooney plays a father who must learn to take care of his two daughters after his wife ends up hospitalized after a boating accident. Naturally, there is an important, life-altering revelation that the trailer reveals in a pretty spoilerrific manner, so beware of watching it if you’re sensitive to that sort of thing. Also, Clooney cries.

Is anyone else thrown a bit by watching Clooney’s attempts to play a so-called “average guy” and, more importantly, a dad too? It’s a bit jarring and ultimately reveals that he’s on his own journey of self-discovery that just happens to lead to an Oscar nomination. Funny how A-list actors have all kinds of money and power at their disposal, but they get hung up on winning those silly gold statuettes, right? In other words, welcome back, Indie Clooney.

Photos of Clooney trolling The Descendants set courtesy of Fame Pictures; still and poster Shailene-Wooley.com