The Kids Are All Right - B+

In theaters. Rated R, 104 minutes. Trailer.

As the least spiritual member of the DLP team, I am oddly the most socially conservative. So, for me, this liberal wet dream of a film featuring a 'stable' upper middle class suburban family with 2 moms wasn't an obvious choice. The always substantial Mark Ruffalo and mostly glowing reviews drew me to the theater in spite of myself. Julianne Moore is the flighty "girl" in the relationship while Annette Bening is the Type A "man". Both are the "moms" to a 15 year old boy and a newly minted 18 year old girl. When the kids secretly reach out to their sperm donor father (Ruffalo) that they have never met, the family undergoes a substantial transition. Click below for more TKAAR:

The exploration of the lesbain relationship was extremely off-putting to me because I don't agree with the premise of the film that that is normal and even remotely possible without massive complications, especially when kids are involved. For that reason, the first 30 minutes or so were terrible for me. Once Ruffalo gets involved and the film gets out of the girls dorm and back into reality it starts to work. The film really takes off as the drama and fallout from the family's upheaval takes root. Cholodenko uses an excellent guitar-based score set against lots of understated dramatic cinematography to achieve some great scenes. She also gives us great adult dialogue and several genuinely funny scenes and lines, along with several tender moments along the way. If only there could have been less lesbian sex set to gay mens porn! And less lesbian baths, candle lighting and navel gazing!

The exploration of the donor/child relationship was very interesting, and Ruffalo predictably pulls it off without a hitch - infusing his character from You Can Counton Me with a little bit of success. Ruffalo's character is kind of a lesbian's construct of what a single, heterosexual male is - aloof, dumb and always on the prowl. Given that writer/director Lisa Cholodenko's body of work reads like a lesbian honor roll, its not surprising that each of the male characters in this film are written like barely advanced simians.

This film is probably an A- for someone that buys and appreciates the moms' relationship.