Review of Downsizing (2017) by Steve L — 15 Nov 2017

Another movie about a white man's struggle with his privilege. I wish I could say there was a redeeming ending, but I had to walk out about 2 hours in because I could no longer hold my tongue. First of all, it was quite misleading to see so much of Kristen Wiig and Jason Sudeikis in the trailer, since they were merely part of the exposition and added nearly zero comedic energy to the film.

An interesting premise, the film dragged on quite slowly before we even got to meet Ngoc Lan Tran, the Vietnamese woman that is supposed to be responsible for Matt Damon overcoming his complacent white-dude life in miniature suburbia.

The only time the audience laughed was when this struggling Vietnamese woman with a beautiful soul...spoke. Mind you, she wasn't saying anything funny, she was simply speaking very point blank and quickly, as Vietnamese women are known to.

..but my god, the audience roared. Especially when she very plainly spoke of another woman dying as though it was just another day in the slums (which it was). For a moment, you are meant to believe that Matt Damon had a big old heart.

You see, he was trained in physical therapy, and was thus helping the sick minorities in the slums - oh, did I mention that in this futuristic movie the white people are still the dominant race and the slums are made up solely of Asian and Hispanic people? Don't worry, the black folk and ladies at least got to be nurses in miniature-land.

Anyway, just as we think Matt Damon is this really good guy, he tries to dip out and abandon his new friend with the help of his super rich white buddies, Dusan (Christoph Waltz) and Konrad (Udo Kier).

Luckily, this strong-willed, big-hearted Vietnamese woman is super naive and doesn't realize it, so she invites herself along, sharing a story that ends in tears. I'd love to think Matt Damon had a heart and was full of empathy, but the amount of hysteria at the end of her monologue makes it feel much more as though he felt guilty as hell.

I won't spoil the depressing news that follows in the next scene, but I should mention that the reason people are becoming "little" was supposedly to save the planet. Anyway, while on this journey, heroic white guy Matt Damon is massaging Ngoc Lan Tran's nub (oh right, she's missing part of her leg) and she begins to fall asleep.

So naturally this is the perfect part of the movie for him to plant a big old rape-y kiss on her face. But don't worry, ladies...they made sure to write in that she wanted it. And this is where I had to leave, roughly at the 2 hour mark.

Because at this point in the movie, I had just about as much hope of an ending that redeemed the movie as the scientists had that they had saved the planet.