Wednesday, July 21, 2010

The Kids Are All Right - Movie Review

The Kids Are All Right (R) 104 minutes A-
Donor dad turned father figure falls in love with a lesbian.

Starring Annette Bening , Julianne Moore , Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson, and Mark Ruffalo

Sometimes the best films are the hardest to write about because I desperately want to convince you that The Kids Are All Right is one of the best films of the year.

It's the story of a middle-aged lesbian couple raising two teenagers. Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) are no different than any other couple (gay or straight) and when their 18 year-old daughter (Mia Wasikowska) contacts the biological father - aka sperm donor (Mark Ruffalo), their marriage and family unit are threatened.

Sounds pretty intense but the film never takes itself too seriously and the dialogue is whip-smart, witty and realistic. It's an outstanding comedy/drama with universal appeal; a terrific alternative to the over hyped and underwhelming summer blockbusters.

The Kids Are All Right and you'll be too after seeing this wonderful film. Highly recommended!

1 comment:

Nobo said...

I agree with everything you said, but like I mentioned in my above comment about Inception, I didn't love this nearly as much as you did. I think my biggest issue with this film is that I didn't like any of the characters. I think she tried to make them complex and interesting, but I just found them annoying and didn't really care what happened to any of them. I thought the performances were pretty good though, and there were a few moments where she was able to capture the physical feeling of a situation in a visual way. The post-hair-in-drain dinner table vortex and the setting up the dorm room scene were stirring.