FIVE STAR TURNS

ELECTION 1999

‘Hell, Chaplin played a homeless guy,’ said Payne of how Election’s saddest moments are its funniest. But then this satirical highschool movie also clashes venom and heart, innocence and ambition.

ABOUT SCHMIDT 2002

Jack Nicholson scored a 12th Oscar nom as the repressed, lonely title character in Payne’s profound and painfully funny road movie. Observer critic Philip French compared the film to Kurosawa’s masterpiece Ikiru.

SIDEWAYS 2004

Talking of masterpieces, this ‘jaunt’ across California’s wine country by two disappointed middle-aged men (Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church) is the standout of Payne’s bittersweet filmography.

THE DESCENDANTS 2011

Payne complained that ‘How did you get George Clooney to run funny down the street?’ was all he was ever asked about this study of loss, estrangement and reconnection. That scene is hilarious…

NEBRASKA 2013

Shot for under $14m in black and white, this father-son road movie winds up in the director’s titular home state. As ever with Payne, there’s longing, regret and humour. ‘It’s about kindness,’ he says. JG