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Title: The Kids Are Alright Director: Lisa Cholodenko
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| CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents, there some strong language and a couple of brief (but strong) sex scenes. Recommended for ages 17 and up. |
I get e-mails sometimes from gay readers of my site who notice that I tend to disagree with many of the “gay films” because I do not approve of the lifestyle. They may be right that I don’t approve of the lifestyle, but I’ve never actually said that this doesn’t mean a good movie can’t be made with gay characters (did no one read my review of “Milk” ). Mostly though, I think if gay cinema wants to escape as much political scorn as it can, it needs to take a note from Lisa Cholodenko’s wonderful comedy “The Kids Are Alright.” This is a smart comedy about a family that is as normal as the one next to them. The only real difference is that instead of a mother and a father, they have a mother and a mother.
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The mothers are Nic (Annette Benning) and Jules (Julianne Moore), a married lesbian couple who have been in love for many years. They have two kids: Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and the oddly named Laser (Josh Hutcherson). The kids love their moms but are curious about their father, who donated sperm which resulted in them being born. They seek out the donar and find Paul (Mark Ruffalo), a man who grows organic food for a living but otherwise seems to be coasting through life. Once discovered though the family must decide what to do with him. The kids like him because they have a father figure in their life that they never had before.
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Despite being gay Jules finds herself attracted to him and even begins an affair with him (this is believable because it’s Mark Ruffalo). The only one who seems threatened by Paul is Nic, who had the house under control before he came into the picture, and now she feels she is losing her family. These are all universal themes that anyone of any gender or sexual orientation can relate to. No wonder it was the success that it was. These are all wonderful actors giving great performances to a movie that could have been political and in-your-face, but is instead touching and sweet. It’s great to see that Josh Hutcherson is growing into a firm actor and may be able to get out of the limitations most child actors find themselves in when they grow up.
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Mia Wasikowska is a treat to see here after previously seeing her in Tim Burton’s highly successful (but still bothering) “Alice In Wonderland.” Here she talks without an accent and comes off smelling like a rose, leading me to believe that we may see more from her yet. Benning, Moore, and Ruffalo are all playing at the top of their game and (at least in Ruffalo’s case) even breaking new ground in their careers, showing that sometimes waiting for the right role is worth every minute of it. Despite the controversial nature, the movie never does discuss why the relationships play out the way they do.
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That Jules is a lesbian and has an affair with a straight man struck me as odd, but somehow not confusing. This is a movie not interested in the characters sexual orientation, it’s interested in what they do and how they relate to other people. The script is witty and funny. It makes the most out of the unusual situation the characters find themselves in and makes us laugh without being exploitive. The acting is top notch and the movie ended with me being sorry that I hadn’t got to spend more time with these people then I already did. A landmark for gay cinema (more so than “Brokeback Mountain”), “The Kids Are Alright” is a great comedy that I feel certain anyone can enjoy if they gave it the time of day.
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