This summer started out extremely depressing with studios dropping clunkers one after another upon unsuspecting moviegoers. Things seem to be looking up a bit (for now). Over the past few weeks I feel like I have started to be entertained again by what was on the silver screen. Sure, I would not call The Sorcerer’s Apprentice or Salt good movies, but at least I was somewhat entertained by them. Inception proved to be a real breakthrough in many ways. Now, we get our great smaller movie of the season with the release of The Kids Are All Right.
The Kids Are All Right is a movie that I knew would be great before I even walked into the theater, mainly because I could not find one person who had seen it before me that did not love the film. These are people for the most part that I trust in their opinions. I may not always agree with them 100% but I come pretty close.
The story revolves around Jules (Julianne Moore) & Nic (Annette Bening), a same sex couple who have 2 children named Joni (Mia Wasikowska) & Laser (Josh Hutcherson) . The two teenagers decide to track down their biological father now that the older sibling is 18 years old. Once they meet their mother(s) sperm donor Paul (Mark Ruffalo), they decide to spend some time getting to know each other before Joni goes off to college.
Once Paul enters into the picture of this unconventional family, a lot of personal issues between Jules and Nic come to light and things do not go smoothly. I feel Annette Bening is really effective as Nic. You can tell how threatened she feels with the new change in the family that is occurring. I also like Ruffalo’s care-free Paul. He is a good guy but at the same time, does not seem to understand how to really be part of a family. Moore is fine as Jules but I feel she is overshadowed by Bening.
One thing I really loved about the film is how real all the character interactions felt. There was not a single false note in the film and the writing by writer/director Lisa Cholodenko (Laurel Canyon) is top knotch. I found myself laughing quite a bit and the intimate scenes between Jules & Nic are beautifully handled.
I hope the Kids Are All Right finds a big audience in theaters this summer. I know that the younger set of moviegoers seem to lean more towards the big blockbuster fare when it comes to buying tickets, but maybe since most of those blockbusters that are our right now are major disappointments, they will trust the word of mouth and give this film a shot.
By: Marc Ferman
