Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, language and some teen drug and alcohol use
Cast: Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson
Director: Lisa Cholodenko
"The Kids are All Right" is the story of a lesbian couple raising two children whose lives are turned upside down when their sperm donor is contacted by one of their kids. An unusual set of circumstances for a family drama, but the movie is too smart to treat the material as unusual. The strife encountered isn't the result of the matriarchs' sexual orientation, but because the human condition simply isn't wired for us to spend our lives with one person. This isn't the story of a lesbian marriage. This could be any marriage.
The two moms are Nic and Jules. Nic (Annette Bening) is a meticulous, driven, successful ER doctor whose attention to life's details rests in a subconscious fear of not being good enough. Jules (Julianne Moore) appears to be Nic's polar opposite... an engaging flower-child free-spirit who seems to have lost focus as far as a career goes, never surpassing the dipping-a-toe-in-potential-waters phase. (Nic has given Jules money to start a few failed businesses.) They clearly love one another, though tensions are beginning to bubble to the surface.
They have two terrific kids. Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and the unusually-named Laser (Josh Hutcherson) are both smart, witty, engaging, talented... and curious. After a little bit of prodding from Laser, Joni decides to go searching for her sperm donor father. Through the agency, she gets in contact with Paul Hatfield (Mark Ruffalo), a successful restaurant entrepreneur who has somehow managed to knead social fecklessness into a charming kind of art form. They set up a meeting and immediately hit it off. Of course this doesn't sit well with Nic and Jules, but they do agree to meet with him as the kids attempt to forge some semblance of a relationship with the man who helped give them life.
Meanwhile, the issues between Nic and Jules continue to mount and appear to gain strength with the arrival of Paul. His presence is the catalyst the unsheathes the insecurities of both women, as Nic starts to feel that her family is being torn down the middle. Struggling to find an escape from Nic's perpetual scrutinizing, Jules begins to seek solace in the company of Paul to the point where an attraction develops.
The film is a triumph of acting, writing, and direction. Both Bening and Moore are so crisp in their mannerisms that nothing feels phony or forced. Their facial expressions, body language, and line deliveries are so authentic that I forgot I was watching actors at work and was swept along with the narrative. I felt such strong empathy for both characters at various points in the story. At the backyard barbeque where the moms first meet Paul, there's a moment when he asks Jules what she does for a living. Jules hems, haws, explains that she's "between business ventures" and is now dabbling in landscaping. Bening's facial expressions during the exchange are subtle but brutal. One can see how an asphyxiation of judgment could be felt by Jules when on the receiving end of those looks. Later in the story, however, after Jules and Paul have engaged in certain indiscretions, there's a scene at dinner when Nic and Paul softly sing the lyrics from a Joni Mitchell song, and we (along with Jules) come to understand the true depths of Nic's vulnerability.
Mark Ruffalo plays Paul as a man whose brain is constantly racing to keep up with his mouth. (Upon learning that his sperm was used by a gay couple, his surprise is echoed in his response. "Oh yeah yeah, no, yeah, no no no, yeah yeah, no, yeah... I love lesbians.") His growing feelings for Jules seem to be genuine, but he's walked away one too many times from uncomfortable situations in his life to understand that relationship issues need to be dealt with instead of tossed aside.
Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland") and Josh Hutcherson are both effective as well, portraying adolescents good enough to earn their mothers' love, but also perceptive enough to learn their flaws and sensitive enough to not be affected by what they uncover. (After learning of Paul and Jules' tryst, Joni tells Paul "I wish you could have been..." she struggles to find the right word, before landing on "...better.")
The screenplay by Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg is spot on, imbuing each character with an intelligence and perceptiveness that crystallizes the nature of each relationship, be it lover, parent, child, or friend. The script also gives way to the occasional humorous line of dialogue, as characters vent their frustrations by digging at the lifestyles of those in their vitriolic crosshairs. ("I swear to God, if one more person tells me how much they love heirloom tomatoes, I'm gonna fucking kill myself.")
Director Cholodenko ("Laurel Canyon", "High Art") has given us a movie with an ending that is not Hollywood-happy, but it is one with a surprisingly powerful air of contentment beneath it. In its understated way, the movie accepts the truth that long-term relationships are meant to be a struggle. An evil, yes, but a necessary one, as the only thing in this world that makes the loneliness bearable is each other.
* * * 1/2 out of * * * * stars
