The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, and Josh Hutcherson
Directed by Lisa Cholodenko
The story's pretty simple -- Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) are a lesbian couple who have been together for two decades. They each had a child conceived by artificial insemination using the same sperm donor. Their daughter, Joni (Mia Wasikowska), has just turned eighteen and she is convinced by her brother, Laser (Josh Hutcherson), to find out information about their donor dad. Joni and Laser meet up with Paul (Mark Ruffalo) and a whole new dynamic is introduced to the family, affecting each member in a different way.
I'm not a huge Julianne Moore fan, but her "earth mom" hipster Jules is winning. Bringing a comedic edge to her work that she hasn't done well since her turn in The Big Lebowski, Moore is light, breezy, and utterly charming. Annette Bening's Nic is certainly the uptight one, masking any pain in a nice glass of Chardonnay. The chemistry between Moore and Bening starts off a tiny bit rocky (which is more the fault of the screenplay), but they won me over soon after the movie began. And I haven't even mentioned Mark Ruffalo yet whose Paul is a little bit aloof, but totally cool -- the dad any kid would love to call their own. It's completely obvious why Joni and Laser instantly take a liking to him and Ruffalo nearly steals the show.
However, the film's not perfect and the problem is with the writing. First, as I've mentioned before, the film starts out with a tone that didn't win me over in the slightest. We get shots of Laser doing drugs, Joni being pressured to have sex, and Nic and Jules making love with male gay porn blaring on the television set. It all seems a little spastic in the initial ten minutes. Fortunately, things start to come down to earth soon after and once the main storyline of Laser and Joni meeting their dad surfaces, all is well from then on out.
The second (and final) issue is that the characters of Joni and Laser just weren't quite fleshed out enough for my liking. They're each given a minor "problem" to deal with -- Joni and her aforementioned virginity and Laser dealing with a bully of a friend -- but both these issues seemed superfluous and tacked on. Laser's issue is a little bit more developed and understandable -- his lack of a male role model forces him to want to seek out his bio-dad -- but it never seems fully realized. Still, I will say that Mia Wasikowska (who I thought was stiff and boring as the title character in the heinous Alice in Wonderland remake) and Josh Hutcherson were both very good here.
The Kids Are All Right is a very good dramedy. Yes, it has a few faults, but they're really just minor quibbles in the grand scheme of things. There's a good story here and there's some wonderful acting that make this one well worth watching.
I'm not a huge Julianne Moore fan, but her "earth mom" hipster Jules is winning. Bringing a comedic edge to her work that she hasn't done well since her turn in The Big Lebowski, Moore is light, breezy, and utterly charming. Annette Bening's Nic is certainly the uptight one, masking any pain in a nice glass of Chardonnay. The chemistry between Moore and Bening starts off a tiny bit rocky (which is more the fault of the screenplay), but they won me over soon after the movie began. And I haven't even mentioned Mark Ruffalo yet whose Paul is a little bit aloof, but totally cool -- the dad any kid would love to call their own. It's completely obvious why Joni and Laser instantly take a liking to him and Ruffalo nearly steals the show.
However, the film's not perfect and the problem is with the writing. First, as I've mentioned before, the film starts out with a tone that didn't win me over in the slightest. We get shots of Laser doing drugs, Joni being pressured to have sex, and Nic and Jules making love with male gay porn blaring on the television set. It all seems a little spastic in the initial ten minutes. Fortunately, things start to come down to earth soon after and once the main storyline of Laser and Joni meeting their dad surfaces, all is well from then on out.
The second (and final) issue is that the characters of Joni and Laser just weren't quite fleshed out enough for my liking. They're each given a minor "problem" to deal with -- Joni and her aforementioned virginity and Laser dealing with a bully of a friend -- but both these issues seemed superfluous and tacked on. Laser's issue is a little bit more developed and understandable -- his lack of a male role model forces him to want to seek out his bio-dad -- but it never seems fully realized. Still, I will say that Mia Wasikowska (who I thought was stiff and boring as the title character in the heinous Alice in Wonderland remake) and Josh Hutcherson were both very good here.
The Kids Are All Right is a very good dramedy. Yes, it has a few faults, but they're really just minor quibbles in the grand scheme of things. There's a good story here and there's some wonderful acting that make this one well worth watching.
The RyMickey Rating: B+
Chardonnay, no. Cabernet, maybe.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should've gone with Pinot Noir or Merlot...
ReplyDeleteShe WOUld drink pinot noir.
ReplyDelete