Better Than Just All Right
★★★★☆Rated R
"Human sexuality is complicated," explains Jules (Julianne Moore, The Hours, The End of the Affair), one of the central characters in The Kids Are All Right, to her embarrassed teenaged son Laser. It is, of course, a huge understatement, but it's one that's perfectly suited to a movie that deals with the most complex of emotions in a realistic, understated way.
Exceptional writing and strong, nuanced acting place The Kids Are All Right a cut above. In the hands of a lesser director, the plot could have easily given way to a black-and-white exploration of an alternative, modern American family. But writer/director Lisa Cholodenko (Laurel Canyon) plays with stereotypes and allows contradictions to play out on their own terms in this story of a long-married lesbian couple (Moore and Nic, played by Annette Bening, American Beauty) whose son and daughter decide to seek out their sperm-donor father.
The opening scenes of The Kids Are All Right are a study in "traditional" gender roles. The viewer sees Jules and -old son Laser (Josh Hutcherson, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant) skateboarding and rough-housing with his friend Clay. Meanwhile, 18-year-old daughter Joni (Mia Wasikowska, Alice in Wonderland)-the more studious and contemplative of the two siblings-plays Scrabble with friends, shyly covering up the fact that she's in love with her male best friend. Both Laser and Joni gamely partake in these activities, but one gets the sense from their subtle glances and shifts in posture that they chafe slightly at fulfilling these roles. The whole sequence is a brilliant way of calling out gender expectations, bringing them to the surface so as to point out the ways in which they define everyday life. If Cholodenko had failed to do this, the rest of the film might have lost its organic quality.
From here, the viewer is introduced to Laser and Joni's seemingly idyllic home life, which is grounded by two loving mothers. The fact that Jules and Nic could not be more dissimilar-and the parallels between the respective child each bore and her personality-could have been overdone for comic effect. Instead, their interplay helps craft the picture of a steady but nonetheless flawed romantic relationship. Jules is prone to spouting self-help-isms and jumping from one unsuccessful business plan to the next. Nic, by contrast, is the quintessential perfectionist, an accomplished obstetrician who makes sure the kids write all of their thank you notes. Both of them worry what will happen when their kids tell them they've contacted Paul (Mark Ruffalo, Shutter Island), their father.
The talented Ruffalo is a welcome addition to the story, bringing the right mix of arrogance, vulnerability, and misguided testosterone to the table. The ease with which Ruffalo's Paul warms up to Laser and Joni surprises him just as much as it does the viewer and Ruffalo is masterful at conveying this. His character's entering into a destructive affair with Jules is a bit predictable, but the emotions that accompany the circumstance and its aftermath are as raw and true as they come.
The film's greatest strength, though, lies in its gutsy refusal to tie everything up in a neat little package at its conclusion. Sure, a few plot lines feel unresolved, but Cholodenko leaves the viewer with a clever metaphor that offers an explanation for the approach: Following a summer of potentially devastating revelations, the family drops Joni off for her freshman year at college. Joni pulls out her sheets from home and begins to make her bed, driving home the point that, although circumstances might change and time might move on, certain baggage will follow you for the rest of your life, playing itself out in different ways depending on the location. When was the last time you saw something that truthful on the big screen?
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