Film Review: The Kids Are All Right

Very few films accurately capture complex relationships in an unflinchingly real light; Rachel Getting Married is one recent example that succeeds. The Kids Are All Right (a huge hit at Sundance) achieves something brilliant in it's depiction of a real family, grappling with change, and drifting apart. Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore), a married lesbian couple, have a wonderful family - their 18 year old daughter Joni (Mia Wasikowska) is spending her last summer at home before college, and 15 year old Laser (Josh Hutcherson) is just living his summer as a normal teenage boy. However, when Joni and Laser decide contact Paul (Mark Ruffalo), the sperm donor their mothers chose, their wonderful family starts to unravel, fueled by uptight edge, infidelity, teen angst, severe insecurity, red wine, and organic vegetables.

Director Lisa Cholodenko, who co-wrote the script with Stuart Blumberg, has crafted a beautiful indie film. The entire cast is perfect, allowed to really dig into the complexities of their individual characters. Annette Bening, as the driven and controlling Nic, is the definition of Oscar worthy; every single expression is filled with incredible subtext. There is so much going on inside Nic, and Bening truly shines. Julianne Moore's free-spirited Jules and Mark Ruffalo's easy-going Paul also deserve serious recognition, showing just how talented (and often underrated; Moore is one of my all-time favorites) these two are. Wasikowska, who received acclaim for her titular role in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, and Hutcherson are delightfully believable teenagers: frustrated, naive, always learning. Working from a brilliant script (another Oscar nomination, please), these actors fully embody difficult, charming, and extremely flawed people.

While the film's central family is fleshed out perfectly, the secondary characters surrounding Joni and Laser are unfortunately undeveloped and rather one-note; they aren't particularly interesting or unique, and come across as somewhat cliched teenage archetypes. It's disappointing, especially when interacting with fully-realized characters. Also, a few of the film's sex scenes are overly gratuitous, in that they seem unnecessary. These moments aren't detrimental for the film, but sometimes seem to have been transplanted from a weaker overall film.

Cholodenko (who has a son with her life partner) has imbued her script with many touching and hilarious moments, situations so relatable they often felt ripped from my own experiences (two that stand out - a Scrabble game between Jules and Joni, and Nic's comments while moving Joni in at school). This is enhanced by an endearing family that just happens to have two moms. While a lesbian relationship is central to the film's story, it is never the film's issue; this is a movie about parenting, two parents who just happen to both be women. Nic and Jules have the same problems as any heterosexual maried couple, the same love and intimacy; it is utterly refreshing to see such a family portrait. Cholodenko has worked magic, turning what could have been an specific indie feature on gay relationships into a thriving commercial piece about bigger family values.

The Kids Are All Right is a big early Oscar contender - sharp, witty, emotionally devastating, utterly realistic. Cholodenko has given us a movie filled with sloppy people attempting to deal and their sloppy problems and mistakes, one day at a time; Moore's stunning speech towards the end of the film, a moment filled with heartbreaking restraint, is a wonderful and touching testament to this sentiment. The Kids Are All Right might be a small indie film, but it's also a big, warm, irresistible meditation on marriage and family. It's an example of simple storytelling in an overblown industry. Cholodenko isn't trying to make a tidy movie, but an authentic one. You won't want to let go of this beautiful family, problems and all. A-