Today’s Prayer Focus
Downsizing
also known as “Pequena Grande Vida,” “Pequeña gran vida,” “Downsizing. Mini-oamenii,” See all »
MPA Rating:
for language including sexual references, some graphic nudity and drug use.
for language including sexual references, some graphic nudity and drug use.
| Moral Rating: | Not Recommended |
| Moviemaking Quality: |
|
| Primary Audience: | Adults |
| Genre: | Sci-Fi Social-Satire Comedy Drama |
| Length: | 2 hr. 15 min. |
| Year of Release: | 2017 |
| USA Release: |
September 28, 2017 (festival) December 22, 2017 (wide—2,668 theaters) DVD: March 20, 2018 |
Relevant Issues
Environmentalism
EARTH’S ENVIRONMENT—Should Christians be concerned about the environment? Answer
What is man’s responsibility to the environment? Answer
Supposed human overpopulation of the world
Earth’s real future, according to God’s Word—see: Millennium
What will the biblical Millennium be like? Answer
Ecology
Economics
Surrealism
Evolutionism
Top choice for accurate, in-depth information on Creation/Evolution. The SuperLibrary is provided by a top team of experts from various respected creationist organizations who answer your questions on a wide variety of topics. Multilingual.
Taking a major, irreversible step in one’s life with no thought of one’s Creator God
| Featuring |
Matt Damon … Paul Safranek Christoph Waltz … Dusan Mirkovic Kristen Wiig … Audrey Safranek Jason Sudeikis … Dave Johnson Neil Patrick Harris … Jeff Lonowski Laura Dern … Laura Lonowski Udo Kier … Konrad Joaquim de Almeida … Conference Director Dr. Pereira Hong Chau … Ngoc Lan Tran James Van Der Beek … Anesthesiologist See all » |
| Director | Alexander Payne — “Nebraska” |
| Producer |
Per Henry Borch Tracy Boyd See all » |
| Distributor |
Here’s what the distributor says about their film: “In the near future, a married couple low on money decide they can have a much nicer life if they undergo a process to shrink themselves. In order to escape their money problems and to battle over-consumption and the depletion of the Earth’s natural resources, they decide to join the throngs of people undergoing a new process that reduces people to a tiny fraction of their size before moving to one of the many communities of small people that are sprouting up around the world.”
- Violence: Minor
- Profane language: Jesus (2), God-damn, Oh my God (3)
- Vulgar/Crude language: Very Heavy —f-words (24) mostly used sexually, “a**hole” (2), “sh*t” (4), cr*p, “b*tch” (2), “sons of a b*tches”
- Nudity: • multiple shots of male nudity—full frontal and side views • woman’s bare chest • bare male buttocks • shaving of male pubic hair (obscured) • woman in bubble bath • cleavage • man showering (upper back view) • bare male chest
- Sex: • sexual foreplay followed by off-screen culmination • sexual comments including reference to gross perversion • suggestion of prostitution • dating couple kisses
See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.
Positive
Negative
Negative—Promoted as a comedy… NOT! Depressing and the main Christian says the F-word like 50 times. DISGUSTING MOVIE.
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 3
Moral rating: Extremely Offensive / Moviemaking quality: 3
Sharon Ulstad, age 58 (USA)
PLEASE share your observations and insights to be posted here.
Secular Movie Critics
…“Downsizing” is director Alexander Payne’s worst film…
Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
…an ingenious comedy of scale, a touching tale of a man whose problems grow bigger as he gets smaller, and an earnest environmental parable…
Owen Gleiberman, Variety
…Even before it completely falls apart, even before it begins to seem as though it were being made up on the spot, “Downsizing” is strangely unlovable. It’s a place we don’t want to visit, a world we don’t want to inhabit. Watching it feels like work. …[1]
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
…strikes an admirably poised balance between whimsy, screwball comedy, social satire and generous meditation on the foibles and highest aspirations of human nature… There is cynicism on view in “Downsizing”: Along with such fellow directors as Darren Aronofsky and Guillermo del Toro, he is clearly distressed at the social, political and environmental degradation he sees around him. …[4]
Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post
…“Downsizing” takes the dullest path through a brilliant premise…As the film wears on, they get further and further from the ideas that make the whole conceit unique and exciting. …
Tasha Robinson, The Verge
…It’s the rare movie that seems to execute every part of its concept absolutely wrong; a narrative, tonal, visual and sociopolitical fiasco the likes of which haven’t been seen in many moons. …
Andrew Lapin, NPR (National Public Radio)
…takes a flimsy premise (“What if we had the power to shrink human beings to a fraction of their size to lessen our impact on the environment? Or something?”) and attempts to blow it up into an epic meditation on personal and global concerns. …
Sarah Kurchak, Consequence Of Sound
…After having gone to great lengths to explain its premise, “Downsizing” thus shifts gears about halfway through, becoming a pretty good movie, just not exactly the one you'd been watching until then. …the second-half developments make it difficult to stay fully invested in the film…
Brian Lowry, CNN
…its tone is radically different from anything Payne has done previously: He’s more playful than usual, but also more thoughtful and somber. With Downsizing, he’s stretching toward something, instead of further contracting into the world he knows best. The movie is a surprise, the good kind, an instance of a filmmaker zigging just when you’re expecting him to zag. …
Stephanie Zacharek, Time
…starts with an intriguing “What if?…” and very quickly devolves into a bland story… It’s the least interesting way to go with what is a pretty interesting premise. …[1½]
Sheila O'Malley, RogerEbert.com
…a way of addressing the planet’s overriding long-term issue. Captivating, funny and possessed of a surprise-filled zig-zag structure that makes it impossible to anticipate where it’s headed, this is a deeply humane film that, like the best Hollywood classics, feels both entirely of its moment and timeless…
Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter
…Payne does it again bringing the planet a very small comedy with big ideas that matter. …
Pete Hammond, Deadline Hollywood
…thoughtful and befuddling…
Justin Chang, Variety
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 4