Common Sense Media Review
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Overlong sci-fi comedy has a heavy message, mature content.
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Downsizing
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 20 parent reviews
Parents say the film presents an intriguing concept about shrinking humans to tackle environmental issues, but execution falters with a meandering plot that leaves many viewers disappointed. While there are thought-provoking themes and strong performances from the supporting cast, the film is criticized for its pacing, dialogue, and a lack of direction, making it unsuitable for family viewing due to mature content.
- thought-provoking themes
- poor execution
- pacing issues
- strong supporting cast
- unsuitable for families
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
Based on 13 kid reviews
What's the Story?
In DOWNSIZING, a Norwegian scientist invents a way to shrink people down to just about 5 inches tall, thereby offering a way to lower humanity's strain on Earth's resources. Meanwhile, struggling physical therapist Paul Safranek (Matt Damon) is having trouble paying his bills. After meeting an old friend (Jason Sudeikis) who's gone through the shrinking procedure and learning that his money would go a lot further if he, too, were small, Paul and his wife, Audrey (Kristen Wiig), sign up for the program. But Audrey balks at the last second, leaving Paul alone in the tiny community called Leisure Land Estates. Paul soon meets playboy Dusan Mirkovic (Christoph Waltz), as well as Dusan's maid, illegal Vietnamese immigrant Ngoc Lan Tran (Hong Chau), and finds a connection with them. Soon he embarks on an adventure to the end of the Earth, meeting the original scientists and learning a terrible truth about the planet we live on.
Is It Any Good?
Coming from acclaimed director Alexander Payne, this sci-fi comedy is an oddity: an overlong, over-written, message-heavy misfire that's almost totally unlike anything else he's ever done. Downsizing takes forever to get started and explain the painful shrinking process -- it requires pulling out all of a person's teeth -- before going on too many detours until it finally reaches its ultimate point. Which is that humans are destroying our own planet. Normally in sci-fi or comedy, messages like that are carefully presented as subtle subtext. But this movie simply slaps our faces with it.
The screenplay almost feels as if nothing from any early drafts was ever thrown away, as if new scenes were simply tacked onto old ones. It does allow for a fun performance by Waltz and a tricky one by Hong Chau, but the movie doesn't seem as interested in characters or story as it is in messages, and it doesn't support the characters as well as it should. (Despite having a fairly large role, Wiig disappears early on and never returns.) It seems as if a fine multi-episode miniseries could have been made out of this material, or a much shorter movie, but as it is, Downsizing feels flabby and overstuffed; it could have used its own shrink ray.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how Downsizing's depicts sex. What's shown, and what's discussed? How is sex talked about? Does it seem like a positive act here?
How does the movie depict drinking? Do people drink together or alone? Why? Do they enjoy it? Does the movie make it look enticing?
Is Ngoc Lan Tran a positive representation of a woman and a Vietnamese person, or does she veer into stereotype?
What does the movie have to say about the state of the Earth? Can we fix it?
Would you ever decide to "downsize"? What are the drawbacks? The benefits?
Movie Details
- In theaters : December 22, 2017
- On DVD or streaming : March 20, 2018
- Cast : Matt Damon , Christoph Waltz , Hong Chau , Kristen Wiig
- Director : Alexander Payne
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s) , Asian Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Paramount Pictures
- Genre : Comedy
- Run time : 135 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : language including sexual references, some graphic nudity and drug use
- Last updated : October 9, 2025
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