The Kids Are All Right

I didn’t procrastinate this week … I swear. This week I forgot (sorry Matt, feel free to dock my pay) I needed to write my blog post because the week has been hellish. Please don’t take my tardiness as a rebuke of this week’s movie, The Kids Are All Right. The opposite is true; I love this movie.

The Kids Are All Right begins with a birthday celebration in a non-traditional family. The daughter of a lesbian couple, Jules (Julianne Moore) and Nic (Annette Benning), has just turned 18 and is being pressure by her younger brother to get information about the sperm donor who fathered them both. The daughter is unsure, but eventually gives the information to her brother.

It’s not that the kids are unhappy, they love their mothers, but they have a desire to know their roots. Their mothers wouldn’t understand, so the kids keep the information from them. Their mothers are a study in opposites, Jules is a free spirit who floats from job to job and Nic is a high powered doctor who craves control over her family.

Eventually, Jules and Nic find out what the kids have done and demand to meet the sperm donor, Paul (Mark Ruffalo). Paul is a bit of an overgrown child who runs his own organic restaurant. He is thrilled to jump into the role of father even though he is ill prepared for all the work involved. It’s no surprise that Jules feels a connection to Paul, but Nic finds him irresponsible and sees him as a major threat to her family.

The bond between Jules and Paul grows when he hires her to landscape his lawn. Unfortunately, Jules falls for Paul’s charms and falls into his bed. But wait, she’s a lesbian, right? Nothing is black and white with Jules, but everything is black and white with Nic and when she discovers the affair she goes ballistic.

This movie is great. The acting is superb and you can see that no matter how a family is configured, all families face the same joys and challenges. I give The Kids Are All Right four and a half stars. The writing is great and the movie is nicely paced. I encourage you to see The Kids Are All Right. It’s well worth your time.

Michelle D. Kieffaber