The Kids Are All Right can open your heart and change your mind. Stereotypes melt with natural acting, arch comedic timing and an honest but not overbearing point of view. Here is a form of family – and it’s genuinely all right.
Director Lisa Cholodenko conjures an alchemy of female and male, new and traditional. When a filmmaker gives her characters the freedom to go all out, letting the story tell itself, it shows true maturity and mastery. She provokes thought without a sermon.
The film won two Golden Globe awards, one for Best Comedy Feature and one for Best Actress in a Comedy (Bening). It also won a Spirit Award for Best Screenplay.
Perfect casting allows Cholodenko to realize her vision. The “momses” Nic and Jules (Annette Bening and Julianne Moore) are a couple with two children, wise 18-year-old Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and wayward younger brother Laser (Josh Hutcherson). An anonymous sperm donor enabled both moms to give birth.
What Nic and Jules don’t know is that Laser is keen to meet his bio-dad Paul (Mark Ruffalo). Joni (being of age) contacts the donor agency to arrange contact. Ruffalo is perfectly suited as the dude who eventually meets brother and sister at his farm-to-table restaurant. He turns out to be a socially conscious hottie and motorcycle-riding bachelor.
Paul becomes a wild card in Nic and Jules’ marriage, not a member of their family but suddenly an admired mentor to their children. Never married, he is awed and intrigued by his newfound connections. Paul feels at home in this alternative family, so moved by its love and belonging that he’d take a shortcut to having one himself.
Laser’s relationship with an abusive “best friend” is examined as Paul mentors. Seeking answers, Laser finds some affirmation as Paul explains his decision to be a donor. “Hey, I’m glad I did it.”
Joni dares to ride a motorcycle against Nic’s orders, and revisits her own friendships. Both Joni and Laser begin to discern and make decisions newly as they integrate a man into their lives. True and direct, Wasikowska and Hutcherson show they are two actors to watch out for.
Bening is hilarious as enigmatic Nic, an uptight, overachieving M.D. with a proclivity for just one more glass of wine. Jules (Moore) is a free spirit, a onetime architect who yearns to launch her own landscape design company. Moore explores many faces of Jules, from wholesome to aggressive. Together Bening and Moore create bona fide screen history.
The emotions and possibilities of “what if” become supercharged. Paul’s presence highlights strengths and vulnerabilities in Nic and Jules’ marriage.
Great direction, acting and writing (by Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg) evoke an appreciation of family relationships and the resiliency of youth. In real life, Cholodenko and her female partner are parents of a donor child.
Love becomes apparent as the family drops Joni off at college. The film’s heartfelt crescendo focuses on marriage as a challenging work in progress.
If you like The Kids Are All Right, you might enjoy: Win Win; Terri; The Art of Getting By.
The Kids Are All Right 2010 / R / 1 hour, 44 min
Cast Overview: Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson
Director: Lisa Cholodenko
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Indie
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