The Kids Are All Right

While two well known actresses portraying a same sex couple will draw a great deal of attention to The Kids Are All Right, those who check it out will find a funny and touching film about family and people trying to figure out who they are and where they are going in life. All of the Julianne Moore nudity is just a bonus!

Julianne Moore stars as Jules, and Annette Bening is Nic - a lesbian couple raising two children, Laser (Josh Hutcherson) and Joni (Mia Wasikowska). The entire family is going through major changes as Joni prepares to start college, the Moms are trying to figure out Laser's deal (he has been acting strangely lately), and Jules is starting yet another business venture no one really believes will succeed.

Before she heads off to school, Laser convinces Joni to contact a sperm bank to discover the name of the man who donated his sperm and made their lives possible. Now, Paul (Mark Ruffalo) is ready to meet the family, and what happens next is something no one is prepared for.

Will the family survive the entry of this man into their lives?

The Kids Are All Right is a perfect combination of fantastic writing, strong storytelling and an All-Star acting ensemble. Director/co-writer Lisa Cholodenko and co-writer Stuart Blumberg give us a script full of real dialogue. This is not your typical movie speechifying where each person says exactly the right thing at exactly the right moment.

Cholodenko and Blumberg fill The Kids Are All Right with more awkwardness than an entire season of The Office (like season 1 or 2, not the last one), and you love every minute of it. Even Jules's big climactic speech has the right rhythm of people trying to find the words to express their feelings, while other moments find our characters shocked at what has been said to them, and they give those embarrassed reactions trying to stay cool. Only an accomplished cast can pull it off.

Bening and Moore are amazing. What did you expect? However, it's Ruffalo who steals the show. As Paul, he creates a character full of charm and appeal, yet, he also displays the man's weakness.

In many ways, Paul is the cad of The Kids Are All Right, so Ruffalo has to lure us in, but also turn us off. It's more than the twists in the script that make this possible. It's Ruffalo finding the right mix of good guy and bad guy in Paul and being almost oblivious to when he is being either.

The Kids Are All Right gets a bit too goofy at times, but it's one you want to check out as soon as it opens someplace close to you.

The Kids Are All Right is rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, language and some teen drug and alcohol use.