Downsizing follows the story of down on his luck physical therapist Paul who looks to make his life better by undergoing the medical procedure called Downsizing which is the miniaturizing of a human-being to life in a miniature society, where you can become a millionaire almost instantly even if you only have a little money. With Paul and his wife Audrey all ready to take part in the irreversible life change Paul kisses his wife goodbye and heads into surgery. After hours of being under the knife and shrunken down he wakes up eager to see his wife, only to get a call from her saying she can’t go through with it leaving him alone in a new world.
Years go by and a divorce is signed and we find Paul in a new job answering phones instead of doing the medically trained job he trained for. With his life in a slump Paul decides to change things up as he joins his noisy neighbour for a wild party. This is followed by him meeting protester turned cleaner Ngoc Lan Tran, a stubborn woman who, after Paul breaks her false leg is forced to see the other side of the small world, and what started as a funny film ends with a sad tale that will effect the world as a whole forever.
As stated above Downsizing starts out as a fun comedy about a man who loses it all. Paul’s odd relationship with Tran has so many laughout moments but when you get halfway and we travel to the original small colony in Norway things start to take a more serious and deep route. This Would be fine if the comedy aspect wasn’t there, the story would flow better either way but the flow here is all wrong for me. It was too serious and while yes it does make you think about the world and the effect humans have on it I still would have rather seen the last half being Paul and Tran’s love blossoming with maybe his wife having a change of heart, shrinking down only to find Paul doesn’t want her in his life now. NOW we are left with Audrey being selfish with no remorse, no regret for leaving her husband the size of a pencil! In any other film this would happen! But then maybe this is why this film has the conclusion it has?
Damon isn’t awful here, the film is more a story issue than a performance issue, he does comedy and playing the fool very well. Will I go out and explore his previous films I missed during the Damon Ban? Maybe, but It won’t be my soul purpose in life. Christoph Waltz was very funny though and the biggest crime this film commits is having him pretty silent throughout the last half of the film even though he is there. It is a wasted role for a brilliant character and this is a huge huge shame. The stand out performance and the funniest and most passionately played person in the whole film is Hong Chau who plays Tran who supplies the films laugh out loud moments with her brash attitude. The funniest part being when Paul comes back to help Trans sick friend only for Tran to say Oh She Died. Too Many pills, She died smiling (not a direct quote!). The love story between Paul and Tran is a beautiful one. Two people from two different worlds coming together.
As a whole Downsizing is an OKAY film. The comedy portions of the film, especially the ones with Tran make the film worth the watch. When we delve into the environmental and the possible world ending issues of the last half of the film the film takes a bit of a nose dive on the fun front and any attempts of humour that follows seems out of place. Is it worth a watch? Yeah its worth it but don’t go in expecting a full out comedy.