The Kids Are All Right (not to be confused with 1979’s The Who documentary, The Kids Are Alright) takes some controversial subject matter and creates a beautiful, touching film that explores the dynamics of a very unconventional family.
Writer and director Lisa Cholodenko has crafted a humorous drama about a pair of lesbian mothers whose two teenage children find and contact the anonymous sperm donor, their biological father and bring him into their lives in suburban California. The younger child, 15-year-old Laser (Josh Hutcherson) is a sensitive jock who must be craving a male role model in his life because he convinces his older sister, Joni (Mia Wasikowska), who’s about to head off to university, to call a sperm bank to obtain information about their father. Soon they arrange to meet their father, Paul (Mark Ruffalo) at his organic restaurant. Paul is a laidback, never-beeb-married man-child who flirts and sleeps with his employees. Paul and the kids get along fairly well, but things begin to get complicated when their mothers, Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) invite Paul over for dinner in an effort to be supportive and open-minded. His continuing involvement in their lives ultimately exposes the cracks and flaws in their own relationships and in their parenting.
While Moore, Bening, and Ruffalo give great performances and there is wonderful humour in the film, sometimes their characters seem clichéd and awkward. It’s a bit predictable and in keeping with stereotypes that the introduction of a sperm donor to a lesbian relationship would cause so much trouble and confusion. On the other hand, it’s refreshing to see this controversial material even being tackled at all in Hollywood.
