Is there anything sadder than a smart premise gone to waste through misguided execution, like the one director Alexander Payne squanders in the dreary satire “Downsizing”?
Payne has a lot of targets in his sights, including consumerism, do-gooding scientists and the obliviousness of well-to-do people to see beyond their own navels. And the premise he and co-writer Jim Taylor devise seems like a perfect projectile to hit those targets: a near future where scientists have devised a way to shrink human bodies to 5 inches tall, a development the scientists say can solve the world’s ills of overpopulation and diminishing resources.