Alexander Payne
Alexander Payne (born 10 February 1961) is an acclaimed filmmaker from Omaha, Nebraska. His films generally include the following tropes:
- Butt Monkey
- Crapsack World
- Creator Provincialism: Alexander Payne is Omaha.
- Cringe Comedy
- Eagle Land: Overwhelmingly type 2.
- The Film of the Book: Citizen Ruth is the only one film he's directed which is not an adaptation of a book.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Especially his first two films.
Directed:
- Citizen Ruth (1996) -- A drug addict's latest pregnancy becomes a political football in the abortion debate.
- Election (1998) -- An idealistic high school teacher tries to sabotage a haughty overachiever's chances of becoming the class president.
- About Schmidt (2002) -- A recently retired/widowed actuary drives to his daughter's wedding. Hilarity Ensues.
- Sideways (2004) -- Two former college roommates go on a road trip through Santa Barbara Wine Country before one of them gets married. The same guy has sex with a lot of women, the other...not so much.
- The Descendants (2011) -- A Hawaiian aristocrat tries to reconnect with his daughters when his wife goes into a coma.