The Kids Are All Right
Starring: Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson
Director: Lisa Cholodenko
Rating: 5/5
There have been a couple of movies about sperm donors and artificial insemination this year but let me tell you that all of them pale in comparison to Lisa Cholodenko’s The Kids Are All Right.
This film was one of the most talked about at the Sundance Film Festival early this year and Annette Bening may want to think about the possibility of picking up a Best Actress Oscar nomination in the New Year.
Moore (Jules) and Bening (Nic) play lesbian married couple Jules and Nic who have two teenage children, using a sperm donor to get pregnant.
And while the four have a happy home-life the kids can’t help but think about their genes and the father that they do no know.
Against her better judgement Joni, who has just turned eighteen, requests a meeting with their biological father, a man that her brother Laser is desperate to meet.
There father turns out to be restaurateur Paul, played by Ruffalo, who is happy to play families - however Nic is cautious of this stranger while Jules, a much freer spirit, bonds with the new man in their lives.
What is so great about this movie is that it is a look into the disjointed modern family, the fact that it’s a same-sex relationship really is a bit of a footnote.
Cholodenko looks at the monotony of everyday life and how marriages become routine not to mention the run of the mill fall outs between children and their parents.
Yes there is the ‘You don’t give me any space’ and ‘I’m now an adult’ arguments that we have all had along the way as these universal family themes are brought so superbly to the big screen.
The central performances are simply brilliant there is great chemistry between Moore and Bening who come over as a very convincing couple who really love their children.
Bening is really the leader of the family and she struggles as her children form a bond with their father as she finds it hard to let Paul into her life.
It’s a tour de force performance from the wine swilling Bening as moves from inviting to cold and compassionate to a down right bitch in a heart beat.
Moore is perfectly cast as the free and easy Jules, who is still trying to find her role in their relationship. She is stilly trying to find out who she is and what she wants from her life.
Ruffalo brings a likeability factor to a character that could merely be seen as just a stud Paul really connects with his children and a great bond is evident between Ruffalo, Wasikowska and Hutcherson.
The Kids Are All Right is a very intelligent as well as very funny look at adult relationships and the stresses and strains that come hand and hand with them.
Ok this film isn’t a hundred percent perfect as the development of Joni and Laser is perhaps overlooked, the subplot of Joni’s romance and Laser’s nutty friend never come to anything.
We may have seen hundreds of family movies in the past but The Kids Are Right is witty and warm not to mention incredibly fresh.
This is a must seem movie of 2010 and could be a major contender when the awards season rolls around.
The Kids Are All Right is out now.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw