The Kids Are All Right is about Jules and Nic, a lesbian couple, who are the mothers of two children, Joni and Laser, by artificial insemination. When Joni turns eighteen, her younger brother Laser asks her to contact the sperm bank in order to meet their biological father...and then drama occurs.
I don't care how you film it, who is in it, which theatre it's playing at or what the subject matter is: this is an art film.
A talking, BIG wordy, preachy, message film that tries to sell itself as a gay film but then only shows straight people fucking. (Not that I'm complaining about watching Mark Ruffalo's ass bouncing up and down, 'cause I'm not. I love him. But gimme a fuckin' break, Hollywood!)
I wanted to walk out twice. The first time I gathered my stuff to leave but then the actors finally STOPPED using big words and sentences (that I think were supposed to make me think / impress me with their "brainy" script) and decided to do something. So I stayed.
Glad I did. It finally started to get interesting.
The second time I wanted to walk out was because everyone and their choices had become SO fucking typical. Typical of their characters, typical of movies, typical of art films. Yes, even the talented Julianne Moore.
I know this film premiered at Sundance (which should have been a personal red flag for me) and wowed them (which should have been ANOTHER personal red flag for me) but there is NOTHING new here people.
Julianne Moore's character is maybe, perhaps the most honest character.
Mark Ruffalo is sexy, as usual, and pretty fucking charming even if his character doesn't realize he DOESN'T have it all together.
Mia Wasikowska. Hated her in Alice in Wonderland and can't watch her in this either. Was Dakota Fanning NOT available?!?!
Josh Hutcherson is good, I just...didn't really care about him. Again, script or direction.
Maybe I was looking for an ACTUAL gay film when I went to see this and that's where this review is coming from. I LOVE that it dealt with a gay family and it had super stars and that it's "mainstream", but as far as gay film goes, it really was just...all right. With that said, the reason I was happy that I did stay and didn't walk out the second time I wanted to, was because of the scene before the ending. Brought me to tears.
SO GOOD.
Julianne and Annette were DELICIOUS. Fucking beautiful and forgiving. It's that big finish people. Give 'em a great ending and they'll forgive you for anything...except when you have to recap it in a review.
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