As a writer and director, Alexander Payne is out to show
that Hollywood studios can produce small character-driven dramas that are also
successful. As a screenwriter he’s one of the great contemporary satirists,
having given the great social commentary pieces Citizen Ruth and Election
followed up by the equally impressive, though less satirical, more dramatic About Schmidt and Sideways. He comes back to us now after a lengthy break from
feature film directing with The Descendants.
