Courtney Howard // Film Critic
Has life gotten you down? Are you examining yours, asking, “How did I get here?!” Once in a lifetime an opportunity presents itself to do something crazy. Apparently in co-writer/ director Alexander Payne’s world, that means downsizing – and not just downgrading a lavish lifestyle. Actually getting smaller. In DOWNSIZING, Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig get small.
The concept is so far out there, I can’t help but have my interest piqued. A modern take on HONEY, I SHRUNK THE KIDS, but with deeper meaning, Payne and co-writer/ frequent collaborator Jim Taylor appear to have crafted something zany but meaningful.
Here’s the official synopsis:
Downsizing imagines what might happen if, as a solution to over-population, Norwegian scientists discover how to shrink humans to five inches tall and propose a 200-year global transition from big to small. People soon realize how much further money goes in a miniaturized world, and with the promise of a better life, everyman Paul Safranek (Matt Damon) and wife Audrey (Kristen Wiig) decide to abandon their stressed lives in Omaha in order to get small and move to a new downsized community — a choice that triggers life-changing adventures.
DOWNSIZING opens on December 22.