Directed by Lisa Cholodenko
Written by Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg
Starring: Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo
After watching this movie, I can see why its only the kids that are all right. Lisa Cholodenko wears two hats as Writer and Director of this drama/comedy film, and scored her first Academy Awards nomination for best writing for an original screenplay. Cholodenko brilliantly tells a story that American film has never really seen before of two kids both conceived through artificial insemination that are on the search for the man who donated his sperm to their moms over a decade ago.
The movie begins and you meet Laser (Josh Hutcherson) and I was immediately hooked because come on, his name is Laser! How unbelievably cool is that! Right off the bat you can tell that Laser is the rebellious younger child while his sister, Joni (Mia Wasikowska) is the older, responsible child who is in the midst of her last summer at home before she heads off to college. Then we meet their moms, Nic (Annette Bening), the authoritarian hard working doctor and Jules (Julianne Moore), the free spirited budding landscape designer. Joni and Laser are well aware of the circumstances of their conception and once Joni is "of age" her and Laser begin the process of finding the man who donated sperm to their moms all these years ago. When bohemian restaurant owner, Paul (Mark Ruffalo) is contacted by the sperm bank that two children would like to meet him, he is caught of guard but intrigued and agrees to meet with them. Fast forward past a first awkward lunch between the kids and Paul to a dinner with Nic and Jules with the children and Paul. Nic, being very type A personality, becomes very territorial over Paul's sudden impact on her families life. She is uncomfortable with how much her children and wife warm up to him, and she makes that very clear. Nic's actions seem a bit over the top at first, but are soon appropriate when a heterosexual relationship begins with Paul and Jules.
Jules craves attention and affection, which are two things she is not getting from Nic. Thus she jumps into the arms of the first guy or girl that can give her that, which happens to be her and Nic's once anonymous sperm donor. Though their predicament is very unusual, it is not just because they are a couple of the same sex. Similar issues can be found in more conventional households. That Cholodenko decided to tell such an interesting story of the forces that can dominate a relationship with a homo-sexual couple is very different and refreshing from what we as an audience are used to seeing.
Bening's performance as the outspoken perfectionist, Nic was one of my favorites and one of the reasons I enjoyed the film so much. At one point she says something along the lines of "I need your observations like I need a dick in my ass." My mouth was agape for a solid ten seconds after that line. The audacity that her character has to just say whatever she wants was very fun to watch and I was not surprised she got an Oscar nomination for her role in this. Mark Ruffalo did an impressive job of bringing some light comedy to a movie that otherwise would have been too dark. I have always been a big fan of Julianne Moore and how she is able to play such a wide array of characters, so seeing her play this role was very pleasing.
Cholodenko leaves the film with a lot of loose ends not neatly knotted, but I still left the movie feeling oddly satisfied. There's really no "happy ending." She really did leave the characters feeling "all right." My satisfaction with the ending comes from the feeling of just being told maybe not your conventional story where some sort of catharsis is reached, but an honest atypical story. The Kids Are All Right was more than "all right" to me.
I give The Kids Are All Right a...
7/10
The movie begins and you meet Laser (Josh Hutcherson) and I was immediately hooked because come on, his name is Laser! How unbelievably cool is that! Right off the bat you can tell that Laser is the rebellious younger child while his sister, Joni (Mia Wasikowska) is the older, responsible child who is in the midst of her last summer at home before she heads off to college. Then we meet their moms, Nic (Annette Bening), the authoritarian hard working doctor and Jules (Julianne Moore), the free spirited budding landscape designer. Joni and Laser are well aware of the circumstances of their conception and once Joni is "of age" her and Laser begin the process of finding the man who donated sperm to their moms all these years ago. When bohemian restaurant owner, Paul (Mark Ruffalo) is contacted by the sperm bank that two children would like to meet him, he is caught of guard but intrigued and agrees to meet with them. Fast forward past a first awkward lunch between the kids and Paul to a dinner with Nic and Jules with the children and Paul. Nic, being very type A personality, becomes very territorial over Paul's sudden impact on her families life. She is uncomfortable with how much her children and wife warm up to him, and she makes that very clear. Nic's actions seem a bit over the top at first, but are soon appropriate when a heterosexual relationship begins with Paul and Jules.
Jules craves attention and affection, which are two things she is not getting from Nic. Thus she jumps into the arms of the first guy or girl that can give her that, which happens to be her and Nic's once anonymous sperm donor. Though their predicament is very unusual, it is not just because they are a couple of the same sex. Similar issues can be found in more conventional households. That Cholodenko decided to tell such an interesting story of the forces that can dominate a relationship with a homo-sexual couple is very different and refreshing from what we as an audience are used to seeing.
Bening's performance as the outspoken perfectionist, Nic was one of my favorites and one of the reasons I enjoyed the film so much. At one point she says something along the lines of "I need your observations like I need a dick in my ass." My mouth was agape for a solid ten seconds after that line. The audacity that her character has to just say whatever she wants was very fun to watch and I was not surprised she got an Oscar nomination for her role in this. Mark Ruffalo did an impressive job of bringing some light comedy to a movie that otherwise would have been too dark. I have always been a big fan of Julianne Moore and how she is able to play such a wide array of characters, so seeing her play this role was very pleasing.
Cholodenko leaves the film with a lot of loose ends not neatly knotted, but I still left the movie feeling oddly satisfied. There's really no "happy ending." She really did leave the characters feeling "all right." My satisfaction with the ending comes from the feeling of just being told maybe not your conventional story where some sort of catharsis is reached, but an honest atypical story. The Kids Are All Right was more than "all right" to me.
I give The Kids Are All Right a...
7/10
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