Premiering at Sundance and purchased by Focus for about $5 million, The Kids Are All Right is a heart warming story about a lesbian couple who has to deal with their kids wanting to make contact with their sperm donor.  The film stars Annette Benning, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Josh Hutcherson (Journey to the Center of the Earth), and Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland).  Said simply, marriage is difficult. 

The issue of gay marriage is hardly the main driver of this film.  If you’re looking for hardcore lesbian love than search the Internet for a couple minutes.  The Kids Are All Right focuses more on the institution of family and the difficulties that come with it.  Hey, every family has its abnormalities (including mine for sure).  The beauty of this movie is that despite all these abnormalities, the difficulties that come with family and love are pretty consistent.

Annette Benning and Julianne Moore do a great job here as the lesbian couple.  The authenticity of their on-screen chemistry is a testament to their talent.  Ruffalo also plays a great middle aged man who yearns for a family and a way out of his bachelor lifestyle.  However, the driving point of this movie comes from the perspective of the kids (Hutcherson and Wasikowska) as girl (Wasikowska) develops an affection for dad (Ruffalo) and boy (Hutcherson) slowly accepts him. 

I was really amazed how the film’s director, Lisa Cholodenko, made the lesbian element such a minute aspect to the real story she was telling.   Cholodenko also wrote the film with Stuart Blumberg.   The Kids Are All Right is a dramatic, yet funny, piece of good ole Hollywood film about showing the hardships of raising kids and dealing with marriage.  You will laugh, you will cry (or try to stop yourself from crying for all those fist pumpers out there), and you will see that family is family.  The kids are not just all right. The kids are great.  If this small released film makes it to your hometown, it’s definitely a SEE IT.

SEE IT