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Visitors Review

Tyy Tad 2012-05-20 15:40:07

wonderful second half; a shame about the first

The first hour of "The Kids Are All Right" really made it hard for meto latch onto the admittedly wonderful second half. It starts out witha collection of missed opportunities—a teenage girl named after JoniMitchell being teased about being a virgin still at the elder age of 18in front of a shy, able guy; the other teenager, a boy inexplicablynamed Laser, being peer-pressured to do drugs by a bully that Lasertreats like a best friend; the two moms having a late night love makingsession ruined whenever the remote control gets off mute and themale-male porn they were watching is loud enough for everyone in thewhole house to hear—that are either abandoned by the screenplay orhandled awkwardly; one of the two moms (or "momses," as the 18 year oldteenager affectionately refer to them as) explains that they watchmale-male porn while making love instead of female-female porn becauseisn't as good because they usually cast two straight women to act outthe scene and the authenticity is totally…and then, tiring of oneleaning on the fourth wall, the other mom elbows her to stop herexplanation.Even the introduction of Paul (Mark Ruffalo), the sperm donor from 18years ago, is filled with dialogue that would make Diablo Cody squirm;for a film which actually has a tender moment to share in the secondhalf, director/co-writer Lisa Cholodenko sure seems determined to haveseveral people dismiss the material before it becomes worthwhile.The only thing that kept me going in this poorly constructed first halfis the layered family dynamic—beyond the naming of the teenage boyLaser and "momses," the cast creates wonderful characters: Nic, theperfectionist, who harps on her children when they don't write thankyou notes, and her partner for tackling such an unstable job as being alandscape artist; Jules, the free-spirit, hard to anger—except when itcomes to Nic's condescending attitude; Paul, the sperm donor, who isnot quite a creep, not entirely a nice guy. There's also thekids—which, beyond what the title suggests, are pawns in the adultinteraction: once Paul is introduced, the highlight to Laser is beingmistaken for gay; the thing to know about Joni is that she's going awayto college in a month and she's rebellious.Something happens that made the whole audience I saw "The Kids Are AllRight" gasp. And then, suddenly, the film became a more thoughtful one,ditches the quirkiness and showing how effective Annette Bening is as adramatic actress; her Nic handles a scene I want to resist fromspoiling so wondrously that an Oscar nomination seems fitting. JulianneMoore as Jules is quite good in the second half…but I had a problemwith her handling of the character at points. I suppose the biggestcompliment I can give her is that she has realistic, lived in chemistrywith her on-screen lover.I do have a complaint: I'm tired of screenwriters taking the easiestroute to a familial argument. It is so prevalent in movies that to seea movie couple—independent movies or Hollywood—not fall victim tocompromising their morals (and, in the case of "The Kids Are AllRight," to do so quickly), it makes the piece stand out and forces thequestion of why are so many people taking the easy way into distress?Writers like Lisa Cholodenko may have an ingenious way to handle thesituation once everything is drawn out, but they certainly lack thesame drive to make the getting there part seem less contrived.Rating: *** out of ****

2012-05-20 01:28:09

Diverse, entertaining, if a little "easy"

Indie films tend to examine angst-ridden families more than any other genre. Famous examples include: The excellent ensemble piece The Royal Tennenbaums, the consistently morbidly amusing Igby Goes Down, the sleek, satirical Little Miss Sunshine, the shaky-cam shot, rather bland Rachel Getting Married etc. Indeed, it seems that family disfunction is a staple these days and with good reason, virtually everyone can identify with oddball, quirky, sometimes ostentatious family members. The Kids Are All Right is an attempt to cash in on that particular facet of the canon, ultimately to pretty entertaining effect, even if it doesn't bring anything wholly original to the dining room table. The film provides us with a duo of lesbian protagonists, for that little extra sizzle. I found this a refreshing twist and Annette Benning and Julianne Moore give understated but realistic performances. Annette is a hard-nosed nurse who might be an alcoholic and Julianne is such an ex-hippie, free-spirit type it is slightly unbelievable the two fell in love in the first place. They raise two less-than-eclectic children, a very pale girl and a sports-oriented boy in a nice house in L.A. One day, the kids look up their sperm donor father, the always reliably and charismatic Mark Ruffalo, who enters their lives and brings all sorts of calamity down on an already shaky dynamic. There is sexual tension between Julianne and Mark's character that the movie explains with her need to find someone who was is more interested in her than consistently distant Annette. This doesn't seem to be enough to convince this movie-goer. Is she bi-sexual? Also, a sub-plot with an abusive relationship between the son and a friend arises and then disappears. Come to think of it, there is a rather unsatisfying plot-line with the daughter as well, as she tries to find the ability to make the first move with a lifelong guy friend at her slutty girlfriend's behest. Sound a little commonplace and familiar? It is. Essentially you will be watching the film to see what happens to the marriage between Julianne and Annette as they struggle to deal with "interloper" Mark's influence, as the kids' respective dramas leave something to be desired. There are plenty of scenes of adept dialogue. A conversation about the benefits of Acai stands out, for instance, as does a subplot dealing with organic gardening that launches Annette into a fun "anti-healthy" tirade that will leave those of us healthy eaters who aren't exactly composing fiends a little tickled. Though not as consistently self-aware as other films of its ilk, nor as original (or well-developed), The Kids Are All Right stands out because of its hearty performances, particularly the three adults. Mia Wakowski (sp) is okay as the daughter and the son is largely forgettable. Frankly, they are just not given enough to do. This is an easy-going, sex-filled tale of contemporary Californians doing their best to stay entertained and to love one another as life changes around them. It succeeds as such, but don't expect the sassy, artistic charm of The Tennenbaum clan or the moribund giggles of Igby's descent.

nama chakravorty 2012-05-18 17:10:07

The Kids Are All Right, Indeed!

Lisa Cholodenko's 'The Kids Are All Right' is indeed a fine film towatch and review about. The biggest plus point, and maybe it's biggestminus, can be the sexuality shown in the film, and the complicationsspoken. But, for me, Cholodenko has succeeded in her mission.'The Kids Are All Right' tells the story of a lesbian couple, their twokids, courtesy from a sperm donor. And by now, you've understood how'not' alright the screenplay wants to be.There some superb sequences in the film, that leave a lastingimpression, the entire Julianne Moore-Mark Ruffalo track, in particularis superb. Even the final 20-minutes are great. Lisa Cholodenko andfellow writer Stuart Blumberg have truly worked on the screenplay, andhave brought it's characters with flying colors. Cholodenko's directionis applaud-worthy as well.Performance-Wise: With such an interesting screenplay in hand, thecharacters so interesting, the performances are ought to be great.Annette Bening, however, rises above the screenplay and delivers alegendary performance. The Award-Winning Actress gets into the skin ofthe character, and selfishly over-shadows every other performer onboard. Julianne Moore is highly competent. Mark Ruffalo is convincing.Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson lend very good support.On the whole, My Summary says my Clear Verdict on this Comedy-Drama.Catch this, but be sure your above 17!

2012-05-18 06:07:55

Tried to hard to shock, the story would have been enough

This review is from: The Kids Are All Right (Amazon Instant Video) I rented after all the "picture of the year" hype I heard about this movie. My opinion is that I must be too socially conservative to feel uncomfortable by some of the scenes in this movie. Just a warning to others who may feel like I did, the gratuitous gay porn movie (3 scenes with it, over done even for those it didn't bother) and the F bomb being dropped almost as much as in Scarface ruined an otherwise well acted movie about a very non-traditional family just truing to live their lives in a so called normal world. (Do all lesbians swear this much??) I think the casting and the acting were perfect for the movie. The scene where Ann Benning is sitting around the dinner table with all the "family" and the film is slow motion to show her emotions at that time is acting perfection. You can feel her emotions like they were happening to her. I hate how movies these days feel the need to get the R rating to draw audiences when in fact the story could have stood by itself. I wouldn't call this a comedy as it is billed. I think of this as a complex family drama with a few dry humorous moments. Not a comedy. I'd have given this 3 stars instead of the 2 I did if it wasn't for the Howard Stern shock value of a handful of scenes and unnecessary language. IMHO,not up to the hype.

eric262003 2012-05-12 08:14:45

See It Just For Annette Bening and Nothing More

Annette Bening was good in her role and from there is all I have goodto say about "The Kids Are All Right". The foundations of the plot has tremendous potential to be a reallygood film which could have had a positive message to go with the themeof the story, scenes to keep one enthralled or some light humor to keepits audience amused. Instead, we are letdown by the cringing clichés,the subject of teen angst and very abysmal humor. The sex scenes exhibited in this movie is so stereotyped it totallypisses me off. I mean forgive my ignorance but I'm not really convincedthat all lesbians conduct oral sex through a vibrator while the partnerwatches television. It's almost as saying that straight couples like toperform sex doggy style. The exhibition of lesbian life demonstratedhere is totally misconstrued. It is pathetic that director LisaCholodenko used very little depth to give an accurate portrayal of whatits like to be a lesbian. In fact, she may have procured more damagetowards the reputations to garner more societal disregard againstlesbian lifestyles.Also, Cholodenko neglected any potentially scenes which could havesparked some intimate or any emotional interactions within thecharacters. The poor communication mechanisms displayed in "The KidsAre All Right" are so badly panned, this family would have driftedapart years ago. There just wasn't anything remotely believable withinthe interactions or reactions within the characters. And this cause ofdamage due to the audience leaving themselves in a whirl of confusion.Who's the one we're sympathizing with?The humor in this movie looks forceful and not very coherent. For thismovie to work, there has to have some humor featured here and comingfrom a non-traditional family, the humor within this family is neededmuch more. If Cholodenko didn't want to go the direction by making thecharacters believable or sympathetic maybe she should make them atleast humorous. But instead, she lured us into the ordinary lives ofthe lesbian relationships like Annette Bening watching television whilehaving sex or Julianne Moore pouncing on her sperm donor. Those sceneslooked riveting, but never caught on. As I said earlier, Annette Bening was the only performer that I enjoyedwatching, plus she was also brilliant and easy on the eyes, but otherthan that praise, there's nothing more good to say about "The Kids AreAll Right".

2012-05-11 13:19:21

Great Women's Movie

This light film shows a fairly successful lesbian couple dealing withthe sudden appearance of their children's sperm donor. This seems tobring out all of the cracks in their relationship with each other,their children, and their own sense of identity, and cause lots of badbehavior. It's not in the least a dark, deep or political film, but amusing and hopeful. The two women are completely individual and specific, not standing in for lesbian couples in general. The movie is entertaining and amusing, but not something you'll be thinking about days or weeks later.Visually it feels very light and open, and very California. I lovedboth Annette Bening, who allowed herself to appear older than shereally looks, and Julianne Moore, and they had great chemistry.Anybody who isn't going to be upset by assorted non-explicit sexscenes will enjoy it. I wasn't as crazy about the Mark Ruffalocharacter, but he seemed to be mostly a foil for the women. It wasgreat to see a Hollywood movie really about women, not men.The extras included a great interview with the director and co-writer,Lisa Cholodenko, who also directed a very dark and edgy indie flick,"High Art", with Ally Sheedy.

2012-05-10 15:33:02

But, what about the audience?

Teenagers Laser (Hutcherson) and Joni (Wasikowska) decide to find outwho the donor was that gave them life for two Lesbian mothers. In the beginning we see the two lesbian mothers watch a male porn DVD,make love and bandy the F-bomb about like it was a newly discoveredword of the day. We also see some heterosexual sex too with the donor,Paul (Ruffalo) and some girl friend working for him in his restaurant. Once those scenes were done with, the movie settled into less shockingscenes except for the F-bomb runs every chance the characters got.Okay, wait a minute, there was more hetero sex later on with Paul andJules (Moore) one of the lesbian mothers. Oh, you didn't see that onecoming? Okay, wait another minute: the rest of the movie dealt with thecomplications into the lesbian marriage that came about when Paul andJules got together. The kids were a little upset, but not as upset asNic (Bening), the other lesbian mother, was. So the title was correct:the kids are all right, and they should have added: but Nic is not.There you have the whole story. My main objections in this film are to the sex scenes because as almostgraphic as they were, they did not need to be shown as they were. And,yes, they were uncomfortable to watch. But, this is Hollywood andthat's the way they are out there,,,,,,,, all in the name of art, ofcourse. Maybe this is a ground-breaking film the way Guess Who's Comingto Dinner was back in the day. Yes, that was uncomfortable for many inthat time, but the comedy writing saved it. But, this one…………..not acomedy writer in sight. Had I known what the beginning of this moviewas about, I would have asked for a brown paper bag to carry the DVDout of the store. I think this would have been a good subject to explore as there is thekids' side to all of this, but the story here really was aboutmarriage, and not so much about the kids who were shown to bewell-adjusted bystanders just like many kids are in many homes. Theywere in essence ALL RIGHT.And, hard to believe, this was billed as a comedy. Go figure. Okay,comedy/drama. I saw the drama, but not the comedy. Well, unless youwant to count the smile on the gardener's face because he figured outwhat Jules was doing with Paul. Ah, okay, maybe not so funny. Violence: No. Sex: Yes. Lesbian sex: Yes. Gay male sex: Yes. Seen onthe DVD. Language: Yes.

mizkook 2012-05-10 10:23:43

Not Bad, Not Good Either

As another person living the same sex committed relationship, it is ofhigh interest to have a look at the depiction of a same sex family.with kids! my, i myself will not ever get to that point in my life.moving on. as other reviews have said, the spread of casts are truly a killer one.Annette Bening as Nic was fabulous, so was Mark Ruffalo and JulianneMoore. But the storyline was so typical, and it basically sent out themessage that lesbians would somehow make that cross to men, and willalways go back to physical gratification of the hetero-sex. which isnot accurate, not for all at least.the characters of the kids, despite being the ones who invited the'father' into their lives, was not further developed to explore theirtrue feelings or acceptance to the new addition of the 'family'.the unnecessary scenes of laser and the friend sent no clear message ofwhat they were trying to say. was it about 'the effect of not having amale figure'? the institution itself, was nicely portrayed. what could be seen asabnormal (and wrong) was easily put together and as a family, there wasnothing WRONG with having two moms and a big house. so no, the movie was not bad neither was it good enough to be praisedmore that it has gotten.

2012-05-07 08:25:31

What next?

Not only does Hollywood have no more new ideas, but the ones they come up with are just trash!I cannot believe that anyone would really like this movie, and I must not be alone because it was not released to the masses!This is border line brain washing. It is clearly another thread to push these values on America. To try to show it is okay and acceptable because we made a movie about it. I wish I could give it zero stars. This is truly gutter trash!

david-2829 2012-05-06 23:46:18

Thought-provoking film about love, family values and consequences for poor choices.

This excellent drama centers on the clash and incompatibility of twocompletely different worldviews: a free-wheeling single guy, and adedicated lesbian couple with teenage children.What is so cool about this movie is that it shows the challenge ofmarriage and the commitment it takes to make it work through good timesand bad. It shows remorse and tough consequences for breaking vows andthere is no easy solution if you make egregiously bad choices.The cast was all-around excellent and likable (or in the case of Nic,purposefully unlikable). I thought Mia Wasikowska was superb as Joni,and really grounded this film through her emotions on-screen. It helpsthat the dialogue throughout the movie was very natural and realistic.I thought Julianne Moore has done better in other films and displayedsome strange lip-pulling in some of her scenes. I also struggled alittle in the attraction between her & Mark Ruffalo... seemed a littlemismatched. This movie also rates lower for me in its overabundance ofcuss words. The script was smart enough and realistic enough, why can'tthe writers be a little more creative than dropping the f-bomb as theonly proper way to show anger. C'mon! Overall an emotional movie that Ithink teaches some good lessons, shows consequences for sexualpromiscuity, and also mirrors the importance of family, trust, love &commitment.

2012-05-05 07:53:17

STARTS PROMISING, ENDS W/ LESBIAN CLICHE: WOMEN GOOD, MEN BAD

This review is from: The Kids Are All Right (Amazon Instant Video) A few thoughts ---1. Excellent cast and casting. The three leads were so good they could inspire a TV series from this film.2. The writer wrote herself into a corner. A 'kiss' opens a Costco sized can of worms -- leaving us two undesirable paths of resolution. The piece must manufacture a fall guy to end the story, but by doing so renders THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT pointless and unsatisfactory. 3. To me, this tale should have explored something more obvious: what happens when two lesbian parents must confront the true 'man of the house'. I'd pit patriarchal beliefs on one side, progressive matriarchy on the other side -- and let them go at it -- finding a fresh and interesting harmonious resolution. Otherwise -- you''re left with a witty and touching but pointless soap opera, which grinds the wellworn lesbian theme of, "Women good, men bad."4. The title has absolutely nothing to do with anything. It's a marketing trick.5. Because of the botched ending, I can't recommend this otherwise promising piece.

hood_james_m 2012-05-04 23:36:03

Wasted Effort

Warning! - Spoilers Below! I wasn't watching this movie, my girlfriendwas and I found myself drawn into it. The actors were good and Ibelieved their characters. It was an interesting story to delve into, alesbian couple that had a couple kids with a sperm donor and the kids,now about college age pursue finding out who their "father" is. Nicepremise. The "donor" turns out to be kind of a "live life lightly" typewho is taken by surprise by this turn of events in his life and overtime develops a bunch of emotions he was not expecting at all towardsthe kids and the idea of having this kind of connection with otherhuman beings. It's nice to see this change in him. His demeanor isquite different than one of the parents and the other seems attractedto this (insinuating there are some issues in their marriage). Now allis still well in the story. The donor seems a positive influence on thekids and he seems genuinely touched and is changing as a person. One ofthe parents seems jealous and the other seems happy with everything.Then, the story gets a little nutty with one of the parents basicallyjumping the donor's bones rather exuberantly (sp?) over and over again.Only once she is caught cheating does she end the relationship andapologizes to the family. She is quickly forgiven and he is quicklydismissed by everyone in the family as the bad guy. Huh? What justhappened? It was quite shocking. There were so many good story linesbeing developed and it all just ended in a completely illogical way. Iwas very upset that I got drawn in only to be dumped like wet cement...or like the donor dad was. I gave this movie 1 star, but the actorswere really good and the movie starts and develops so well. The endingwas so bad, I want directors to have to apply for a license so theydon't break our hearts. Haha, just kidding... hopefully this Directorcan learn some lessons from this and get better. There is obviouslytalent there, but learn to close the deal!

themovienessdotcom 2012-05-03 01:44:14

Overall a great summery movie that will charm your day!

This was the first trailer in a while that made me want to go to thecinema. And the trailer didn't promise too much, I really enjoyedwatching The Kids Are All Right. But then you can't really go wrongwith a movie that has Julianne Moore, Annette Bening and Mark Ruffaloas the lead characters.Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) are a gay couple withtwo kids. When their daughter Joni (Mia Wasikowska) turns 18 herbrother (Josh Hutcherson) urges her to contact their biological father(Mark Ruffalo) who then turns the whole family upside down.You can definitely see that this movie was made by a woman (LisaCholodenko), it's incredibly sweet and sensitive. A bit too much cryingfor my taste but otherwise really well told. The relationship betweenmothers and kids is very cute and funny. I guess it goes without sayingthat the acting was incredible. Especially Julianne Moore created avery real and amusing character. I have to say, I did love all thelocations used, they really made me want to move to California.Overall a great summery movie that will charm your day!

2012-05-02 19:45:41

Great movie

I loved this movie -- the marriage it depicts could be just about any middle-class marriage.

2012-05-01 21:30:11

Not alright

The idea of even introducing into this movie a scummy creep that demands his "friend" hold down an innocent stray dog so he can pee on the dogs head is so perverted and deplorable. What does that say about the thought process of making this movie? You have lesbians raising a family & then meeting the sperm doner. What in the name of God does such animal cruelty have to do with the script? Disgusting writting & appalling critics that raved so much about this movie. They didn't need to include that scene.

josemedeirosforsenate13 2012-05-01 05:19:24

The trailer looks very funny!

I found this movie to be very interesting, as it seems to do a verygood job of what a lesbian couple go through in raising children oftheir own with a male in the picture. The interesting thing is that,Back in 1987 or so, the San Jose Mercury News did a story on a Lesbiancouple that went to a bar and picked up on a man, brought him backhome, then took his used condom and impregnated them selves with aTurkey baster, with out his knowledge. Now 20 years later, should theybe entitled to back child support? The social question here is, should the biological father have a rightto know he has a child, and also be involved in his own child livepossibly with joint custody or at the least partial custody, in myopinion, I think he should. Since Mark Ruffalo was only a sperm donor,he gave up those rights in this movie.And should he have to pay back child support for a child that he neverknew he had 20 years later, if his sperm was taken with out hispermission? Our laws seem to only protect single mothers with nodisregard for a single father who may not have had the financial meansthat the mother may have had, and our laws do not require that a mothertell the father if he has a child. Mothers may do this to avoid thefather seeking joint custody and or child support, or have a say on howhis child may be raised, however should the father have had thefinancial means to support the child, I am sure the mother would be thefirst to file a paternity suit. Sounds like a double standard.

EdnaWelthorpe 2012-05-01 01:52:46

Solid film but could have been better

So I was looking for something to do and since all the movies playingright now are pretty much drek, I decided to check out "The Kids AreAlright" after reading some glowing reviews about it.It was alright.There are several problems that I have with the movie. First of all,every scene feels very disjointed and episodic. Like they weren't partof a larger story but rather scene was a heavily scripted story of itsown. It works great on television but in a movie, at least for me, itjust gets tedious after awhile.Secondly, for a movie about the children of lesbian parents meeting thesperm donor their moms used, it was disappointingly predictable. Assoon as Mark Ruffalo enters the scene, you know that he's going todisrupt things without intending to and everything will fall apartuntil he screws up and things return to a semblance of normal...thatwas exactly what happened. Hooray for originality!/snark Third, therewere too many characters introduced that weren't adequately explored.Like Ruffalo's character, do we get any insight into his motivationsand decisions? Nope, not one bit. What about Joni's sexually precociousfriend? She occasionally pops in and out of the film but is basicallyfiller along with the most likely gay male friend. Other characterslike Tanya just disappear from the film for no reason at all. Thiswouldn't be a problem if she wasn't rather prominently introduced earlyin the movie! And for that matter, the wrestling match Laser's friendhas with his dad. Does it serve any purpose? Nope, it's never touchedupon. Maybe it's to show the audience that the kid isn't a douche bychoice but it's rather pointless when that character too is abruptlydropped from the film! Fourth, the plot is pretty shoddy. It requiresthe viewer to suspend and accept the rather insulting idea that alllesbians can be tempted by the "right guy" as seen with Julianne Mooreand really, how is that even plausible? It's also not explained whyPaul just decides to fall for her? Then there's the other lesbian Nic,whose problems with alcohol and stress are given the same lacklustertreatment. Following a scene where she is confronted on her drinking,she just casually says that she'll have water...it's pretty wellestablished she has a drinking problem and those don't go away socasually. Point is, the handling of several plot points is shaky atbest and insulting at worst.Finally and I'm just gonna say it, the ending is wholly unsatisfying. Iam normally a fan of unresolved, ambiguous endings but frankly the filmis too long and given how many characters and other side plots werejust carelessly tossed aside, IT NEEDED A STRONGER RESOLUTION! At leastsome idea as to what Paul does next, whether there is any hope for himor if he's doomed to be an indie version of a Judd Apatow character.Okay, my very harsh criticism aside, the film isn't that bad. What itdoes have going for it is great actors. Annette Benning and JulianneMoore are terrific, Ruffalo does a good job being the rather haplessschmoozer and Mia Waza-whatever commands your attention on the screen.She is certainly one to watch.Overall, this film could have and should have been better but I havehad the misfortune of seeing far, far worse.Final review, 6/10: the handling of the plot was weak but the acting isterrific.

proteus6847 2012-04-30 15:02:58

All Wrong

We see a marriage based upon butch/femme role-playing, penileprosthetics and artificial insemination. We see a family where the kidswant a father, the mothers are attracted to male bodies, and one ofthem has repeated sex with a man. In short, we see half-bakedimitations of the real thing, with everyone yearning for the oneelement that can make them whole: the opposite sex, and not just moreof the same.Obviously, that wasn't the filmmakers' intention. They wanted to giveus an arms-open portrait of an unconventional family, and send theWorthy Message that gay parents are the same as any other parents. Irather doubt that, and my skepticism is not allayed by the casting oftwo straight actresses in the lead roles. ("The inauthenticity"!).Casting actual lesbians would have been braver and more honest, but theresults would have been too real for a mainstream audience, and thefilm's cozy message of equivalence would have been a tougher sell. Inany case, by showing us a gay couple pretending to be straight, andstraight actresses pretending to be gay, the film subverts its agendaat every turn.And then there's Paul: really a nice guy, of boundless good will, yetAnnette Bening accuses him of being an "interloper" in her family. No,her family are the interlopers in his life. Drawn to the warm glow ofhis testosterone, they seek him out, force themselves on him, use himas a sounding board, therapist and sex object--and then dump him. Thefilm takes great care to reconcile the mothers and their brood, and itasks us to celebrate the survival of this matriarchy. But it doesn'task us to shed a tear for Paul, whose emotional life has beenthoroughly ravaged. Ah well, despite his good qualities, Paul is stilla Man, and therefore the source of all evil in the world.

Zdislav_Dorklehoven 2012-04-24 17:46:57

This is not entertainment. This is disentertainment.

I saw 'The Kids Are All Right' last night, and I'm of two minds on thefilm.On one hand, I appreciate it for being the total invert of a MichaelBay film. No dialogue, extremely stylized grainy photography, some ofthe most genuinely horrific imagery ever set to film, and a verycompelling use of sound (which nobody else seems to have really pickedup on yet). It's a reflection on a theme, and it dares go where mostfilmmakers do not not only in terms of images, but of production andconcept.It's a movie that most people don't understand, and if you read throughthese comments you'll find a lot of people whose lack of ability tofigure this film out results in them shrieking about 'pretentiousness'with the fervor of a rabid gibbon rattling the bars of its cage atfeeding time. It genuinely shocked and disturbed me, and the last timea film managed to do that was a while ago.On the other, this is a thirty-minute short that sprawls out to over anhour and a half. I understand that there might be artistic merit inusing repetition and monolithic pacing as a bludgeon, but in this caseit just doesn't help everything hang together. Imagine being approachedby a ragged man on the street who grabs you by the shoulders and sayssomething that completely confounds the core of your being... but then,instead of leaving your shattered and gibbering in his wake, he justkeeps talking and talking and talking. By the end of the movie, I foundmyself glancing at my watch now and again.This is not entertainment, people. This is disentertainment. This ishow you deprogram people who just watched "Inception." If you watchmovies to be entertained, this will frustrate, confound, and possiblyanger you. You don't approach 'Submarine' like a chocolate cake youwant to eat because it tastes good. You approach it like something onthe menu you have never heard of before, something you see furtiveglances of through the kitchen door, something that's dark and glistensand twitches on its platter; something you order not because it willtaste good, but because you just have to know what it's like.

John DeSando 2012-04-24 06:04:51

Lesbianism is hardly the point.

"Marriage is hard." Jules in The Kids are All Right Lesbians don't dominate in the love that owns The Kids are All Right.By that I mean if you want hard-core lesbian love, then go to the backof your video store because this film is about the challenges ofmarriage and family life. It's not Medea; rather it's the best familyromady I've seen since Little Miss Sunshine, and not even as funny.Not funny by comparison because at the heart of the film's majorconceit about a lesbian couple's family tensions lies universal truthsabout family and love. Jules (Julienne Moore) and Nic (Annette Beningin another fine performance this year after Mother and Child) had ateenage girl and boy using the same sperm donor, Paul (Mark Ruffalo).When the daughter, Joni (Mia Wosakowska) and son Laser (JoshHutcherson) invite Paul to the family, chaos results as Nic becomesuncomfortable with the growing affection between Paul and Jules and thechildren confront a love free-spirit in their post-hippie donor-dad.The beauty of the film is in the overlapping effects of affection amongall the characters as daughter grows fond of dad, son warily acceptshim, and Jules brings him into the bedroom. None of this intertwiningis smooth, as it isn't in our lives either, and writer director LisaCholodenko deftly alternates between the comic accessories of thelesbian motherhood and the real challenges of parents with teens inrevolt and the onslaught of hetero affection.Without the lesbian element, The Kids are All Right is a kitchen-sinkrealistic turn on the vicissitudes of marriage and family. Thecelebration of the complexities is wonderful to behold, a wakeup callto tea partiers that love transcends gender, making opposition to gaymarriage as outdated as anti civil rights.While the dialogue and sentiments are the most realistic you will seeand hear his summer, the grand theme prevails as if in the greatestRussian novels: If we open our hearts to love, regardless of gender,the kids will be all right.