vernon film society
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THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT
Director: Lisa Cholodenko
Cast: Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska
Run Time: 104 minutes
Country: USA
Year: 2010
Language: English
Rating: 14A (Sexually suggestive scenes)
Working with an award-winning cast and a fearless script, director Lisa Cholodenko (High Art, Laurel Canyon) redefines the con¬temporary family in the crowd-pleasing com¬edy The Kids Are All Right. Paying close atten¬tion to the everyday nuances of family life, the story centers on the mid-life parenting crisis of a long-time lesbian couple whose lives are thrown upside down when the anonymous sperm donor and “father” of their two teen¬age children unexpectedly enters their lives.
Jules (Julianne Moore, Chloe, A Single Man) and Nic (Annette Bening, Mother & Child, The Women) have been together nearly 20 years, raising their two teenage children, Laser (Josh Hutcherson, Journey to the Cen¬ter of the Earth) and Joni (Mia Wasikowska, Alice in Wonderland, Defiance), in Los Ange¬les. When Joni turns 18 and exercises her right to contact her father, she inadvertently invites complication into her ordered family life. Enter Paul (Mark Ruffalo, The Brothers Bloom, Blindness), the anonymous donor, a free-spirited bachelor with few commitments in his life who is happy to meet his offspring. Their first encounter, kept secret from the “moms,” is understandably awkward, but soon the kids are regularly hanging out with the congenial Paul, until Laser inadvertently reveals their subterfuge to his parents.
Jules takes the news fairly well, but the ev¬er-uptight Nic reacts unfavourably, worried about Paul’s potential influence on her kids, and responds by inviting him over for the first of two brilliantly observed dinner party scenes. As Paul enthusiastically becomes a tentative, adjunct member of the household, family bonds are tested - the kids embrace and relate to him, Jules develops an improb¬able attraction to him, and Nic increasingly feels like she’s losing her grip. Anchored by the endearingly quirky comic performances of Bening, Moore and Ruffalo, The Kids Are All Right is a hilarious and gener¬ous portrait of the churning tensions within every family.
“It is outrageously funny without ever exaggerating for comic effect, and heartbreaking with only minimal melodramatic embellishment.” - A.O. Scott , The New York Times
“The movie we've been waiting for all year: a comedy that doesn't take cheap shots, a drama that doesn't manipulate, a movie of ideas that doesn't preach. It's a rich, layered, juicy film, with quiet revelations punctuated by big laughs.” - Dana Stevens, Slate
Reviews: www.metacritic.com/movie/the-kids-are-all-right/critic-reviews
Official Site: www.filminfocus.com/film/the_kids_are_all_right
