"The Kids Are All Right" is a romantic comedy/drama about a dysfunctional family. Is that all? No, there's a more to it then that. Director/writer Cholodenko has captured a situation that I am sure is becoming more and more prevalent in this modern day. When I watched this film I immediately thought of the darker comedy/dramas featuring dysfunctional familes ("Little Miss Sunshine" and "Juno" sprung to mind), but this is a darker look at the dynamics of a family that is now being forced to adapt to a new development.
The premise for the film is a clever one: what if a lesbian couple's children (conceived by artificial insemination) decide they wanted to meet their birth father? We are presented from the beginning with two women, Nic (Annette Benning) and Jules (Julianne Moore), who try to raise their two children. They struggle to tie them down and protect them (quite possibly because they fear they won't be accepted by the outside world like they were). And they've done a pretty good job: the daughter Joni (Mia Wasikoswa) is an 18-year-old A-grade student who is intelligent and sweet, whilst their son Laser (Josh Hutcherson) is as confused and disorientated as any other 15-year old boy. But they've managed to keep their children's love and affection, and sense of normality about the whole thing. The parents assume the traditional parental roles in a way: Nic is the main breadwinner and more domineering. She watches over her pack with a fiery eye, and is the main protector. Jules is more submissive and femine, and is open to a few more things. But despite them being different, the writer/director portrays them in a way where we just see two people who have found each other, who love each other, wanting to be good parents and raise a family. However, things change when Joni decides she wants to meet her birth father. The kids meet Paul (Mark Ruffalo), a man who is presumably in his early 40s: he is chilled, laid-back and has an accepting attitude to almost everything (he runs an organic restaurant/farm, so we can expect this). Overwhelmed by the call, he agrees to meet them, and the stage is set for the rest of the story to unfold.
What happens next is conventional to this kind of darker comedy drama, but it is interesting to see the family grow and come to grips with Paul, and his involvement. The kids naturally start to see him as a kind of "father figure", but they hold back on fully expressing it for fear of what this may mean. The script isn't amazingly spectacular, but is solid in it's message, and there are many well-written scenes that capture the characters' intentions. For example, where the characters are just talking around an open dinner table, and we can feel the tension between the characters: we can see Paul being uncomfortable but trying to keep it together, Jules trying to be accepting and understanding, while Nic is a predator looking to break down her prey with any sign of weakness.
Probably the strongest point of this movie is the acting: we see the vulnerability of the children, and their desire to grow closer to Paul but at the same time showing restraint. Ruffalo, who is a sorely underrated actor, gives his second good performance of the year (following his showing in "Shutter Island"). We can see this is a man who is just going about life in a care-free way, but is suddenly starting to see what having a family could mean. He is confused throughout the film about what this really means, and how he should react, and Ruffalo delivers this performance spot on. Julianne Moore is also good in the role of the feminine Jules, but Annette Benning gives an impressive turn as the mother who, through her eyes, is slowly watching the family she fought so hard to build and protect, fall apart. Benning strips down to the core of emotion, and while at times we think "why can't she just relax?", we realise that her intentions are sincere.
This is a solid movie, and whilst the concept is good, the script isn't able to fully keep up for the whole film. At times some of the dialogue and the situations seem contrived and forced. But like other indepedent dysfunctional family dark comedies, such as "Little Miss Sunshine" or "Juno", we realise that every family has their own problems and unique dynamics. "The Kids Are All Right" is a solid movie where the acting saves the script and gives us real characters that we all know.
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