The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko, 2010): USA

Reviewed by Veronica Vanglin. Viewed at The Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Before I first saw The Kids Are All Right I had heard that it was supposed to be good, but I had absolutely no idea what it was about. I am one of those who prefers reading about the film after seeing it, and therefore going into it with no expectations at all.  I must say that there were a few confusing seconds before I could put two and two together and understand Annette Bening and Julianne Moore’s relationship. But after my bewildered moment I got really excited because I’ve seen a lot of Julianne Moore’s work and I know that she always seems to be trying new things. Her characters very much differ from each other in each film she does, and she always gives a great performance – but a lesbian mom? “Is she going to pull that off?” was my instinctive thought. She most certainly did. Both Moore and Bening did a spectacular job in portraying a lesbian couple with marriage troubles and concerns for their teenage kids.

It took director and screenwriter Lisa Cholodenko over 5 years to finish the script. She based it of her own life and had her long time friend Stuart Blumberg, who is an actual sperm donor, write it with her.  The acting was, as I mentioned, amazing, not only from our two protagonists but also from Mark Ruffalo who plays Paul, a lonely restaurant owner who donated sperm in his youth. Joni (Mia Wasikovska) and Laser  (Josh Hutcherson) are the two kids who gets in between their both moms and their biological father, Paul, whom they just started having contact with.

Nic and Jules are two women who started a family together by getting pregnant with the same sperm donor. When their oldest, daughter Joni, turns 18 she decides to figure out who her and her brother’s biological father is. Joni is feeling smothered at home and feels that her moms don’t understand that she is a grown up now. When she meets Paul everything change. She starts feeling alive and she does things that she’s never done before. That goes for Jules, one of her her mothers, too… The younger brother, Laser, is also changed in many ways after meeting Paul. Laser was definitely skeptical in the beginning but after letting Paul into his life he comes to understand that he’s been hanging in the wrong crowds. Nic is the only one who doesn’t get along with Paul. Not at all. She is devastated and feels that he is trying to take over her family.

The strength with this film, apart from the acting, is the extended character development. Each of the main characters is going through a really tough time in life but they are all able to find a solution, at least to some extent. This film reminds me a little of a serious It’s Complicated by Nancy Meyers. Both films portray disfunctional families where the kids get in between odd relationships. The Kids Are All Right also has a sense of  humor and silence are well used to make us really understand how the emotional setting is in the room for the moment.

This is a film that I think many people can relate to, even if this family is a little different than most.  There are still a lot of the fights, betrayal, frustration and, off course, love that is in any relationship. If anything I would go see it just to enjoy some great acting and a clever story.