Read Positive User Reviews for Downsizing

7

peeteelee83Nov 26, 2018

The trailer does this movie a huge disservice. The trailer tries to sell this movie as a silly comedy, like Matt Damon's "Stuck On You." While the movie does have some silly, comedic bits, it's main focus is a satirical take on modernThe trailer does this movie a huge disservice. The trailer tries to sell this movie as a silly comedy, like Matt Damon's "Stuck On You." While the movie does have some silly, comedic bits, it's main focus is a satirical take on modern consumerism. If you go into the film expecting to be rolling on the floor laughing, you're going to be disappointed.
"Downsizing" is to modern 21st century mass consumerism as Voltaire's "Candide" was to 18th Century Leibnizian Optimism. Both works take the perspective of a generic everyman to illustrate the flaws in the times they live in and the mindset of the people around them. And in both works, the main character starts off seemingly indoctrinated by the world around them and proceeds to live through experiences that cause disillusionment. I won't spoil the ending, but if you didn't like "Candide," you're probably not going to like "Downsizing."
It's not a comedy. It's meant to be a thought-provoking, satirical commentary on rampant, self-destructive consumerism. It does an acceptable job at that, though if you go into the movie blind like I did, you'll endure about an hour and a half of "where is this movie going" confusion.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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7

sitebenderMar 26, 2019

Downsizing is a comedy that turns into a drama. By the end it felt more about how people jump on trends. Its tone becomes very disjointed as you descend from lightheartedness into end of the world stuff that never really feels like an actualDownsizing is a comedy that turns into a drama. By the end it felt more about how people jump on trends. Its tone becomes very disjointed as you descend from lightheartedness into end of the world stuff that never really feels like an actual problem in the movie.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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8

AWESOM-0Mar 8, 2020

I don’t get it, the negative reviews puzzle me. I really enjoyed this movie and I thought the performances were fantastic!

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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8

RedrealMay 7, 2019

Wow this movie is a sleeper hit in my opinion. I initially watched this out of boredom expecting something goofy and fun akin to Honey I Shrunk the Kids but this movie is so much more!

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

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10

VancomycinFeb 3, 2018

Plainly put, movies like this don't come around often enough. With a refreshingly adult take on the "Indian in the Cupboard" (and only marginally less-racist) this film will take you in for the entirety of it's runtime. Beautiful scenery, anPlainly put, movies like this don't come around often enough. With a refreshingly adult take on the "Indian in the Cupboard" (and only marginally less-racist) this film will take you in for the entirety of it's runtime. Beautiful scenery, an encouraging take on classes in society and plenty of humor make this a comfy escape for a few hours.… Expand

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

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9

johndoe2014Apr 8, 2020

I was completely caught off guard by where this went, but it was delightful. I have never liked Matt Damon more. It took some chances. And I appreciate that.

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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7

ledaumasDec 31, 2017

This movie is nothing like the trailer. The trailer makes you think it's a comedy and doesn't show anything about the Asian woman Matt Damon's character spends with after his wife Kristen Whig doesn't join him. It has its funny moments, butThis movie is nothing like the trailer. The trailer makes you think it's a comedy and doesn't show anything about the Asian woman Matt Damon's character spends with after his wife Kristen Whig doesn't join him. It has its funny moments, but mostly in the first half. The second half is thought provoking about what is important about live. In the end, the answer is that what's important in life is different for everyone. But I knew that.… Expand

2 of 5 users found this helpful23

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7

ozymandias79Mar 14, 2018

Downsizing is original. It isn't a sequel, remake/reboot, or comic book movie, which dominate these days. There's an interesting/humorous concept and the acting is solid. The subtle humor is great. Not sure why people wouldn't likeDownsizing is original. It isn't a sequel, remake/reboot, or comic book movie, which dominate these days. There's an interesting/humorous concept and the acting is solid. The subtle humor is great. Not sure why people wouldn't like Downsizing. Could be a result of the Marvel conquest of cinema. Unlike those movies, Downsizing has a soul.… Expand

2 of 5 users found this helpful23

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10

Aladdin718Apr 7, 2018

An original movie with a quirky premise that really grew on me and took me on a thoroughly enjoyable ride. In a field of cookie-cutter, predictable movies Downsizing was refreshingly original.

2 of 5 users found this helpful23

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10

joylitDec 25, 2017

I thought this movie was brilliant, a cult classic in the making. It uses a great sci-fi concept to mirror modern day society, offering a soberimg reflection on how easy social/political solutions are always bound to replicate old models,I thought this movie was brilliant, a cult classic in the making. It uses a great sci-fi concept to mirror modern day society, offering a soberimg reflection on how easy social/political solutions are always bound to replicate old models, creating bigger problems. It reminded me of Terry Gilliam's Brazil and Joe Vs. The Volcano. Hong Chau gives a funny and endearing performance. This is really Alexander Payne's version of "Make America Great Again". Very underrated film.… Expand

3 of 8 users found this helpful35

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7

GreatMartinDec 28, 2017

“Downsizing” is a perfect example of why not to read critics before you go to see a movie. Go to a movie because you like the cast or the genre of what you saw in the trailers or, maybe, even word of mouth.

Matt Damon’s last 2 movies bombed“Downsizing” is a perfect example of why not to read critics before you go to see a movie. Go to a movie because you like the cast or the genre of what you saw in the trailers or, maybe, even word of mouth.

Matt Damon’s last 2 movies bombed at the box office—“The Great Wall” deservedly, “Suburicon” not—but “Downsizing” is a good movie.

I go to see any Matt Damon movie and, yes, he has made a few bad ones (Don’t see “The Great Wall”!) and, yes, the director Alexander Payne who also wrote the screenplay with Jim Taylor, doesn’t follow through on a few deep ideas but the premise is different, there are laughs, there are tears and just how they shrunk a 6 foot person to 5 inches and surrounded them with first the ‘tall world’ and then the ‘miniature’ world is in itself a reason to see the movie.

While the main theme is human survival and why downsizing people will help with that there is also the problem of punishing dissidents by downsizing them and making them poor immigrants to wait on the new wealthy. Paul Safranek (Damon) is the married American everyman who is just gets by and becomes intrigued the more he hears about the Norwegian doctor, played by Rolf Lassgard, that his project of shrinking humans is successful plus he hears from others including some old friends that he didn’t know had gone through the project and has nothing but raves about it. When Paul learns what little money he has would be worth about $12 million in Leisureland where this new species of humans live in a perfect world.

As Paul learns about this new world so do we and we follow him in his journey meeting his new friends two aging party guys, Christopher Waltz and Udo Kier, into booze, drugs, women playing and using them as if they were frat boys. One of the benefits of everything being small is made fun of with Kier owning a fully equipped yacht that he has Fedex’d where he goes to get there before him.

We eventually meet Ngoc Lan, played by Hong Chau, while she cleans Waltz's apartment, right above Paul’s, who at one time was a famous Vietnam dissident, who now lives in a tenement world of various Third World people who are sick and ill-equipped to take care of themselves. Ngoc wears a prosthetic device, is direct taking no nonsense and spending her time before, during and after cleaning places taking care of others.

Without giving away any spoilers Paul and Ngoc with her bossing him around and they eventually team up with Waltz and Kier going to Norway to hear about the next step in saving the world.

While not getting too deep into the world situation but explaining enough plainly the journey Paul takes from being the normal guy then going through the shrinkage steps, which provides a few laughs, becoming adapted to being rich, taking a dead end job and a decision he has to make near the end is the arc of drama of the film.

Matt Damon does an excellent job as Paul, Christopher Waltz and Udo Kier are a hoot as the two aging playboys but it is Hong Chau who steals the film and has a 4-5 minute bit using the ‘f’ word that, while funny also has a lot of feelings.

There are cameos by Laura Dern, Margo Martindale, Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Sudeikis, Maribeth Monroe and James Van Der Beek among others while the aforementioned Rolf Lassgard along with Kristen Wiig offers strong support.

“Downsizing” is the second film I have seen this week, the other being “The Greatest Showman”, that have been snubbed by the critics but which offer strong performances by the male lead, with the former also having an award worthy female lead, and is definitely worth seeing.

Rated R for language, drug usage and frontal nudity.… Expand

3 of 8 users found this helpful35

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9

MaureenOSDec 27, 2017

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I assumed Downsizing would be light entertainment to kill a couple of hours before meeting friends in the food court. Instead, it riveted my attention from the beginning.The silly premise of people, en masse, shrinking down to five inches is the vehicle for an existential work of art more akin to Camus' The Plague, or Kafka's The Metamorphosis, than 'Honey, I Shrank the Kids'. To reduce the human carbon footprint, a scientist discovers a way to shrink people down to five inches. Not only will small people consume less but their personal wealth will increase in inverse proportion to their new size as their tiny houses and other necessities of life will now cost pennies on the dollar. This increase in wealth is the marketing tool used to entice customers to downsize. The movie opens at a scientific conference to announce the discovery of the transformational process. But the cutting-edge scientific tone soon shifts to a campy small town setting where the main character, Paul Safraneck, played by Matt Damon, is seen caring for his sick, aged mother. Both tone and settings kept ricocheting off in unexpected directions like marbles in a pinball machine. Worlds meld into worlds. A tunnel connects an idyllic small community to its dystopian counterpart of bleak carton-sized cement blocks of tiered units that house the poor and disenfranchized. Another tunnel is like the stuff of dreams, where the dreamer must choose to proceed one way or the other, forever sealing his fate depending on which way he goes. An Avatar-like forest filled with a lush extravagance of giant leaves and flowers seem magical from the perspective of people five inches tall. A scene of workplace banter among medical techs in a huge transformation plant seems mundane enough until a door opens and the giant head of a 'big' co-worker fills the doorway. But rather than feeling disjointed, the constantly shifting tone and settings are more like the whorls and eddies in a swiftly flowing mountain stream, with Paul a leaf floating Zen-like atop the ever-changing current. Matt Damon's acting talent shines as Paul is repeatedly thrust into bewildering circumstances and meets them with an expression of pure receptivity, the receptivity usually seen in children who find themselves in a perplexing adult situation and stand, transfixed, soaking everything up like a sponge. It's the receptivity to ever-changing circumstance and banishment of desires that's been timelessly advocated by Eastern mystics. I'd always assumed that by 'desire' these wisdom traditions meant desiring material things like cars and houses, or the more ephemeral desires of ambition and competition. But Paul not only has no interest in material wealth, which he shows by moving out of his tiny mansion into an apartment, neither does he have any 'What's in this for me?' or 'How do I get out of this mess?' personal agenda. He's neither self-pitying or rageful as his new small life goes unexpectedly wrong. He doesn't seem to desire anything - only to immerse himself in the flow of his new life, doing whatever is required of him in every shifting situation. I never knew what the Zen virtue of egolessness looked like before. Now I do. It looks like Paul Safranek. Paul has an unassuming presence. He runs like Forest Gump. His good nature is evident from the beginning when he rushes home from his job as an industrial occupational therapist to care for his sick mother. Only later do we learn the great sacrifice he made career-wise to move back home to care for her. A number of highly creative scenes are memorable, like when Paul struggles to carry a beautiful normal sized rose as a gift to a neighbor. Or the eerily real dialogue when trapped in a car with a stranger, he's forced to make polite conversation immediately after receiving a devastating loss. Or the visually surreal ballet without music as hundreds of still anesthetized newly made small people are adeptly scooped up onto spatulas and placed in carts for transport by giant techs with all the precision and repetitive motion of workers on an assembly line. A wordless backward glance at an old man in a wheelchair chomping down on a cold piece of chicken says everything necessary about who Paul is, and what motivates him. The only reason I didn't give Downsizing a 10 is because I found the role of Tran played by Hong Chou just a bit too abrasive. As the movie neared the end, something made me look away from the screen and around the darkened theatre. It was something odd I sensed. Only about a dozen other people were there with me. But there was no crinkling of candy wrappers, no shifting in seats. There was an atmosphere of deep silence, a collective of mental energy inwardly focused, like in a church where only a handful of people are sitting or kneeling, intent only on their prayers. Not surprising, since Downsizing is ultimately a deeply spiritual movie.… Expand

2 of 6 users found this helpful24

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10

p_reinJan 17, 2018

The movie is proper entertainment. While it touches on some important topics such as environmental issues and overpopulation they are not the main theme. Actually, the main theme is hard to describe as it seems to change a few times but thatThe movie is proper entertainment. While it touches on some important topics such as environmental issues and overpopulation they are not the main theme. Actually, the main theme is hard to describe as it seems to change a few times but that doesn't ruin the movie at all.
I feel like people get some expectations based on the trailer and get them shattered during the movie, hence the low rating so far. I expected nothing more than good acting when I saw the cast and was not disappointed at all.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

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10

ExistentialmanDec 23, 2017

I saw Downsizing last night and immediately after I would have given it a 6, but after letting it sink in, the film really resonated with me. At this point I will give it a 10. I'm going to make this a spoiler free review, in the hope thatI saw Downsizing last night and immediately after I would have given it a 6, but after letting it sink in, the film really resonated with me. At this point I will give it a 10. I'm going to make this a spoiler free review, in the hope that some people will see it based on my experience. The film speaks to issues of global warming and who we should be spending our life with knowing that we're destroying our environment and possibly destroying ourselves as a species. I really feel like I now have a better understanding of how I want to live my life in the face of climate change. It also feels like a feature film version of a Black Mirror episode. I love Black Mirror, so if you're a fan of that show you'll probably have a great time watching Downsizing.… Expand

7 of 40 users found this helpful733

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7

Arkham26Jan 27, 2018

To be honest, I was waiting for this movie for such a long time. The trailer itself suggested it's gonna be something very different. Among all the other tiny people movies we have watched so far such as Gulliver's Travel which focuses onTo be honest, I was waiting for this movie for such a long time. The trailer itself suggested it's gonna be something very different. Among all the other tiny people movies we have watched so far such as Gulliver's Travel which focuses on comedy but Downsizing focuses on the feelings and emotions. If you liked the trailer definitely you gonna love the movie as well.… Expand

1 of 7 users found this helpful16

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10

tennisracketproJan 2, 2018

sound interesting , can't wait to see it. sci-fi movie my thing, but Matt in this kind of genre ... i don,t see you shining here son. you're better of with action

2 of 17 users found this helpful215

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9

BitashJul 10, 2020

I watched the movie since I knew Matt Damon doesn’t do awful movies, it surprised me as what it was about and could not predict the script at all. I loved the script idea, acting was superb. The Vietnamese actress was amazing. Her last twoI watched the movie since I knew Matt Damon doesn’t do awful movies, it surprised me as what it was about and could not predict the script at all. I loved the script idea, acting was superb. The Vietnamese actress was amazing. Her last two scenes were so believable that I forgot I’m watching a movie.
Great script, movie takes you through a ride. Enjoy it, it will make you think at the end. Yes the world is over populated. So maybe we will stop having so many kids. Loved it… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

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8

TrailesqueAug 11, 2021

Here is a lavishly weird-normal SF comedy from Payne (and his co-writer Jim Taylor). It is something new for them, since their previous flicks have mostly been grounded in middle class American reality. This begins very much that way butHere is a lavishly weird-normal SF comedy from Payne (and his co-writer Jim Taylor). It is something new for them, since their previous flicks have mostly been grounded in middle class American reality. This begins very much that way but eventually spins off in a completely unexpected direction, and ends up someplace unique.

The premise is interesting - imagine a technology that allows people to shrink themselves down to a fraction of normal size. What would humanity do with that? Well, use it to stretch the family budget and retire to gated communities and lives of leisure, of course! Your dollar buys a lot more when you are 5 inches tall. Alas, the same problems that plague the regular world (e.g. poverty and illness) reappear in this one. An impending environmental disaster rears up, and our average guy hero (well played by Damon as always) ends up heading off to Norway and an encounter with the second coming of Noah's ark. The visual effects are very interesting, but some of the characters are not exactly a pleasure to spend time with. Overall this is a unique motion picture, and well worth a look. Unfortunately, it was not a hit at the box office, and ended up losing some money.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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