THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT REVIEW!

2010 Part I is over and now the (hopefully redemption thirsty) Part II is on its way.  The first part was well, underwhelming.  Fall is coming, unfortunately, and its almost time to start recapping the year for awards season.  A few good films popped out the mediocrity to really stand out.  INCEPTION, TOY STORY 3, and SHUTTER ISLAND are the big three through the August for Awards Season.  A few personal favorites made the year more bearable; YOUTH IN REVOLT, DATE NIGHT, A-TEAM, KICK-ASS, GREENBURG, and DEFENDOR.  As you can see the top is a little light with a bigger middle and an even bigger bottom (LAST AIRBENDER, CLASH OF THE TITANS, and PRINCE OF PERSIA anyone?).  A few films to look forward too, hmmm.  Maybe THE AMERICAN (Clooney), THE TOWN (Affleck), WALL STREET 2 (Stone), THE SOCIAL NETWORK, 127 HOURS (Boyle/Franco), BLACK SWAN (Aronofsky) will step up with a few others that might be flying under the radar.

    But the awards season just found a new indie sweetheart to croon over.  THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT directed by Lisa Cholodenko (LAUREL CANYON, HIGH ART) is a movie about a family so close to falling apart, but it’s funny, it’s touching, and it’s beautiful.  A stellar cast including Annette Bening (BEING JULIA), Julianne Moore (FAR FROM HEAVEN), Mark Ruffalo (SHUTTER ISLAND), Mia Wasikowska (ALICE IN WONDERLAND), and Josh Hutcherson (CIRQUE DU FREAK) offer the potential for the best ensemble cast for 2010.  Bening and Moore are a lesbian married couple living in California.  They have two children Joni and Laser (Wasikowska and Hutcherson) who decide to take of advantage of Joni’s 18th birthday to contact their sperm donor, Paul (Ruffalo), and of course their mothers do not approve.  What ensues is a test of the family structure and of a person’s constitution.
    Bening is incredible as the tough, controlling, and hardworking doctor who feels the pressure of her family collapsing around her.  The role is very similar to her role in MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS, but she makes the best of type casting and turns it into to a wonderfully tough and heartbreaking performance.  Moore does what she does best playing a mother bottled up in a relationship without any means to express herself, but instead decides to experiment with the opposite sex.  Together, Bening and Moore are electric.  Their relationship is so realistic and covers so much territory not explored in film.  Both characters experiencing a mid-life crisis and dealing with them in different ways, mainly by realizing their liberal views might not be the best views.
Ruffalo is the best he has ever been as Paul.  His screen time probably only occupies half of the movie, but when he’s on screen his quasi-bohemian restaurateur character really captivates.  He’s funny and passionate.  SHUTTER ISLAND and INCEPTION gave DiCaprio two great roles in one year.  Well, SHUTTER ISLAND and THE KIDS ARE ALL ALRIGHT have done the same for Ruffalo.  In this movie he is so cool.  He’s the kind of guy your mother would hate but you want to hang out with as much as possible, and to have him as your dad?  That’s what Joni and Laser experience with Paul.  Kudos goes to the children.  Wasikowska and Hutcherson are perfect as the 18 and 16-year-old children.  Wasikowska can act, and she could do so very well.  I expect big things from her in the next few years.  She plays the high expectation burdened good girl so well that she rivals the performances acting powerhouses of Bening and Moore.  Hutcherson is a solid up-and-comer who does not waiver around his surrounding talent.  There was a wonderful aura of chemistry between him and Ruffalo.
    Cholodenko, while not over stylizing or over-directing, does THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT a great service.  She kept it light.  A film dealing with homosexuality, family drama, and infidelity could come across as heavy and tiring.  A great Lifetime Movie Channel movie.  But she saved it.  She allowed the actors to have joy, and it shows.  Even in the most heartbreaking of scenes a tone of joy and hope seeps through the celluloid.  This film, while slow, still holds a certain amount of kinetic energy that gives short blasts throughout to keep it exciting.  Aside from all of this, Cholodenko is interested in the people.  This is a beautiful character study of five completely different people whose lives and relationships experience a little shake-up.
    This is a definite must-see as will be around for awards season, but, more so than that, it is a wonderful movie.  A cast that is so on its scary headlines THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT.