Downsizing needed a boost

Matt Damon has had quite the year, and not in a good way. The Great Wall didn't make the splash the studio was looking for and Subrbicon came and went in a flash. In his third movie this year, Downsizing looked to be the winner with an interesting concept. 

The hook of shrinking to "save the planet" but really to live the life of luxury seemed like an interesting premise with a world filled with visual gags and tiny people problems. Unfortunately, none of that really comes to the forefront as the potential is wasted on a rather dull romance story. The story shifts around giving hints of a bigger story but never progresses beyond Matt Damon's character of living a comfortable lifestyle and helping those in need. The problem is that director Alexander Payne, whose previous works include Nebraska & The Descendants, is a character director and not a spectacle director which accounts for why the film never went big. 

What could have been the comedy event of the holidays instead turns into a two hour slog of waiting for something interesting to happen. Visual potential is wasted as the film tries to go for substance over style and misses audience expectations. Downsizing is about as big as its characters are small. 

- Mike