Movie #277 ........................."The Kids Are All Right"

Movie #277 "The Kids Are All Right" breaks some ground. It actually shows a typical family with all the aches and pains of trying to raise two high school kids, one who is leaving at the end of the summer to go to college. The one big change is it is a lesbian family, and each woman bore her kid with the same sperm donor. They are going through midlife crises themselves, with one partner being a doctor, the other moving from one job to the next --- right now it's lawn architecture. Anyway, the show is so well acted it sucks you in to the situation --- the sex scenes are quite "out there" and it seems very honest in most of its portrayals and Annette Bening is so darn good ---- even during Julianne Moore's breakdown, the camera goes to Bening who supports Moore in the scene. The reason for the 4 rating is that I had some concerns in the film --- some of it seemed tough to swallow, like just how mean and cold Bening has to play her character most of the time and how flaky Moore has to play hers ---- and the major conflict hinges on that, and it was a little tough to believe, but other than that, the movie seems realistic in showing the title: the kids ARE all right --- everyone has gone on a journey in the film, and they all come out better spending the time together -------and the viewer gets some insight and knowledge, as well. And that is groundbreaking in itself.



Average rating: 3.817
I give it 4 stars.
The Kids Are All Right
(2010) R
The children of same-sex parents Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore), Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutcherson) become curious about the identity of their sperm-donor dad (Mark Ruffalo) and set out to make him part of their family unit, with frequently comical results. With his arrival, the household dynamics quickly become complicated, and nobody's quite sure where or how he fits in, if at all.