And that brings us to Matt Damon. It isn’t that Damon is a bad actor, it’s just that his usual act of ordinary man in extraordinary circumstances is never very likeable. It’s just really hard to get yourself to invest in him or care about him, which is kind of important for a lead character one would think. Presumably Payne wanted an everyman to play the main role to make it easier for the audience to fill his shoes and inhabit this remarkable world themselves. And sure, apart from when he’s playing an amnesiac spy or astronaut with issues, Damon has made himself a Hollywood A-lister on the strength of his everyman-ness, but really. This guy?

Rarely has a film about life seemed less life-like. Waltz in his half-demonic wide smile does stir some motion, but more and more of his roles now seem a parody of the original in Inglourious Basterds.

Downsizing is the sort of movie that will only improve with age, when many of the concepts it imagines turn into reality. Right now, it’s ahead of its time, understandably rejected by audiences (and in an unbelievable betrayal, also by the critics). They should pick on someone their own size.

This is one film that looks at a much bigger problem when it comes to shrinking humans than any previous film on the subject. While it dithers in what it wants to eventually say, it is certainly a fun watch.

Donwsizing tries to elevate the process  of shrinking human beings by imbuing a  moral edification to the process of shrinking humans physically. Sorry, I saw no joy in becoming smaller to save humanity.How  about saving us  from having to watch such joyless excursions  into  La la Land?

Downsizing is a complex masterpiece which is convincing but not unfamiliar.