The Kids Are All Right

The Kids Are All Right (2010) is a Drama/Comedy in which Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) are a long-term lesbian couple raising two kids. Their eldest, Joni (Mia Wasikowska) is in extremely intelligent, and in between high school and college- her last summer at home. She's just turned 18. Her younger half-brother, Laser (Josh Hutcherson) and she have different mothers-- he's Jules's biological son, and Joni is Nic's biological daughter-- but they share the same father- a sperm donor who they've never met. Now that she's 18, Joni is legally allowed to call the Sperm Bank and get the details on her biological father. She's not interested-- but feeling separated from both his legal parents, and having a douche-bag for a best friend, Laser is definitely interested. He convinces her to make the call, and they meet him. Paul (Mark Ruffalo) is working at his home-grown garden when he gets the call from Joni. He's a hippie type who likes to work with his hands and sleep with the girl working nearby, Tanya (Yaya Dacosta), growing all his produce locally, and he's an amazing call. He completely forgot he ever donated the sperm until Joni calls, but wants to meet his two biological children anyway. After meeting with them, he's captivated with these two young adults, and cannot get enough-- father life wasn't something he saw for himself, but he's more and more drawn to it. When the moms find out, they're less okay with it than they always thought they'd be. But, still, they make an attempt to meet him, and get to know him so that they're comfortable with their kids doing so. But as tension builds between Nic and Jules, and the family gets closer to the newly introduced Paul, little things start to pull them all apart. And it's only a matter of time before Joni will be gone.

This film is an original screenplay by Stuart Blumberg and Lisa Cholodenko, who also directed it. It's based on aspects from Cholodenko's real life, and was began in 2004. She stopped writing in 2006 however, when she was impregnanted by a sperm-donor. Julianne Moore was the first actor enlisted for the production, followed by Mark Ruffalo and then Annette Bening. It was made on a budget of four million dollars. It was widely received as an unbelievable picture when it first came out, and was releashed on DVD and bluray in November, 2010. It's currently up for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, as well as Best Leading Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Original Screenplay-- which has been officially changed to "Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen" due to a slump in truly original written work.

This film, though marked as a comedy, was surprisingly humorous to me. For some reason, in reading the summary, I just didn't think it was going to be that funny-- it seemed like it would be kind of a downer, and at times, it can be. But there were several moments that made me literally laugh out loud. The comedy was tasteful and good. The movie is really a drama as far as I'm concerned, but moments of it really are funny. Apart from that, not a lot about this movie sticks with me. The performances were good, they just weren't striking. This movie wasn't groundbreaking for me in anyway. HOWEVER, I was clear to say "for me." I'm aware that lesbian parents aren't yet 'mainstream' in society-- which is disgusting, by the way. It ought to be, by now-- and because of that, this is sort of the Brokeback Mountain of girls. I feel like that's part of why it's up is the homosexual subject matter, especially them being parents.

This film also happened to be visually... bright! The sun was always shining, the trees blew in the breeze, it has a palpable feeling of summertime, and even though I'm a winter girl, it made me yearn for Spring. This film has a really nice quality to its sets and lighting. It's warm and inviting. The visuals had a really nice effect on the movie. The sex scenes in the movie are also... painful? I think painful is the right word. Even when the sex is being enjoyed, it's just so awkward-- like Election. You just kind of want it to go away. (And by the way, if I see one more awkward sex scene, I may never fornicate again.) The characters are believable and well-written, as well as all the different layers of conflict. They're subtle, but noticeable, and really great. These people have believable issues, which makes it a good statement on contemporary, middle-aged lesbian life in the burbs. 

I did enjoy this movie, and I might even buy it, but it wasn't 'new' to me. Inception explored new territory for me. The King's Speech explored a speech disorder, something I haven't seen in a film. Black Swan explored a thriller concept with a ballerina... those films had a certain new quality to them, even though two of the three are adaptatons and not new ideas, at all. They still FELT new. To me, someone who owns all 5 seasons of Queer as Folk, has seen The L Word lives in "The City of Brotherly Love" and has a girlcrush on P!NK... this just isn't that new. I felt that if the lesbian parents had been removed from the story, and the kids had been born to straight parents who simply needed a sperm donor, this film would have been... boring. The lesbians were what made it hip, new, and interesting. Don't get me wrong, as I said, I enjoyed this movie and found it a pleasure to watch. But aside from the lesbians, what's the catch? Not much. The writing was clearly well-done though, just from seeing the film, and if that wins, I wouldn't be surprised or upset. It's just not the Best Picture of 2010. Still, I reccommend it. It's kind of calming and a pleasure to watch. I wouldn't call it 'uplifting' but it's definitely enjoyable.