The Kids Are All Right

Posted 13 years ago by myetvmedia

6/10

The Kids Are All Right directed by Lisa Cholodenko, starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo has surprisingly garnered four Academy Award Nominations and has already received some coveted BAFTA awards.  Unfortunately we just could not arrive at the same conclusions when comparing the merits of this film with current or other fine films in these categories.  The Kids Are All Right feels like a missed opportunity.  Both story and characters seem lost in a movie that too often focuses on banalities.  The movie is meant to be a comedy but in many instances the humour seems lacking or forced. The early bedroom scene depicting a stolen sexual encounter between Annette Bening (Nic) and Julianne Moore (Jules) as a married couple trying to ‘keep it down’ for the sake of propriety for their teenage children came across as tedious. Telling this story and relying on a lesbian marriage to be the twist that made it unique was just not engaging enough. The story had potential but turned out to be disappointing even though the character played by Mark Ruffalo did his charming best to keep us engaged.

The plot is revealed early in the movie when we discover that teenaged siblings Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutcherson), children of a lesbian partnership (Bening and Moore), are conspiring to find and contact their sperm donor “father” (Mark Ruffalo).  It is not an entirely modern premise as films have been made about children discovering their biological parent and finding that they are the offspring of someone they could admire (King Arthur’s Uther Pendragon) or hate (Luke Skywalker’s Darth Vader). Same sex partners as parents with straight offspring in a comedy, is also not a new theme. The Birdcage (1996) starring Gene Hackman, Robin Williams and Nathan Lane earned an Academy Award Nomination and is hilarious with such a theme. That story revolved around a gay cabaret owner and his drag queen companion who agree to put up a false straight front so that their son’s very right-wing future in- laws will suspect nothing. The Kids Are All Right seems to misfire, having no real focus despite good on screen chemistry between the female leads Bening and Moore. At its best, the dialogue is sharp and witty.  Exchanges between Moore and Bening will make married viewers chuckle and think of interactions with their own partners but it is not gripping enough to keep us engaged in the story or the characters.

Despite all of its strengths, something about The Kids Are All Right just doesn’t add up.  Subplots, many involving the teens, are introduced and then end up going nowhere.  The subplots themselves come at the expense of the central story, which never really has time to develop emotionally.  It is clear that there are very interesting and dynamic characters at the centre of the story but the movie leaves you feeling as though you barely got to know them. It is a character driven story that does not empower the characters to really have the opportunity to connect fully with the audience. Sorry, this film just did not hold up on our rating system, but we encourage you to decide for yourself.

Galadriel Barrett-Laffan and Moira Romano

The Kids Are Alright HD Trailer

The Kids Are All Right

  • the kids are all right
  • Annette Benning, Julianne Moore, Josh Hutercherson, Mia Wasikowska, Mark Ruffalo
  • the kids are all right
  • the kids are all right
  • the kids are all right

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