The Kids Are All Right
Lissa Coffey
Grade: B-
| The Kids Are all Right is just… well, all right. Not spectacular. It’s basically a relationship movie. Annette Bening and Julianne Moore play a married couple with two teenage children. Each child was born by one of the mothers, who was inseminated with sperm from the same donor. When the kids get curious as to who their biological father is, they find Mark Ruffalo. He’s a motorcycle riding restauranteur who grows organic vegetables. As the kids get to know their father, the moms have to adjust their lives to make room for this new person, and their relationship is affected.
If this movie were about a husband and wife in the same situation, I doubt that it would have gotten much attention. In the usual scenario, there’s not much of a story there. Having this be a lesbian couple turns the movie into something we haven’t seen before. But is it enough of a twist to carry the film? I don’t think so. The acting is fabulous, and the characters real and believable. Mark Ruffalo is one of the most underrated actors of this generation – he is so good in everything he does. But in the end, we’re kind of left with “what have we learned here?” and the answer is… not much. |