Los niños están bien

The Kids Are All Right is yet another dramedy about a dysfunctional family, but it is still an excellent film with a great script and performances.

Annette Bening and Julianne Moore are excellent. Both are extremely versatile, and both flawed, but they play their characters with true respect for the script. Mark Ruffalo is also a nice addition, but If I had to choose the best, it would be Bening, simply because she has the most to play with. There is a great scene where she finally warms up to Ruffalo's character and starts her own rendition of one of her favorite songs in the dinner table. The best scene in the film, perfectly executed, and Bening certainly deserves an Oscar nomination for that scene alone. Mia Wasikowska also proves that she is a great talent to behold for the future. The ending is great, really touching and it rings especially with me because I am close to leaving for college next year as well.

Overall, I regret not having seen this sooner, and it is definitely worth accolades for the script and performances.

Products of same parents different mothers inquisitive teens Joni and Laser seek out their biological father. Paul (Mark Ruffalo) turns out to be a likable laid back vacillator that the kids would like to have more of in their lives. Nic (Annette Benning) a focused doctor is cautious while Jules (Julliane Moore) more free wheeling in the mode of Paul connects with him in more ways than one.

Kids is a basic dramedy of bump in the road marital discord enhanced by the changing make- up of today's nuclear family. The same problems of raising a family and maintaining individual identity within the unit are dealt with here as in any union but with the added dynamic of same gender partners struggling with traditional heterosexual hurdles.

As lovers and parents Moore and Benning are excellent as they display a nice comfortable chemistry with each other, casually defining and revealing the problems in the relationship without hysteria. Opposites in many ways Benning's Nic is rigid but pliable, Moore's Jules free spirited but conflicted; yet they balance each other well as long time companions. Ruffalo's Paul has a nice irresponsible charm at first that allows him to inveigle his way into the family setting momentarily by winning over the kids and Jules as well as a grudging respect from Nic.

Director Lisa Cholodenko maintains a spry enough pace by moving from character to character without bogging down in the superfluous chatter that devoured Laurel Canyon and along with a trio of winning performances to carry it along "The Kids.." is a lot better than all right.

The movie follows a Nic and Jules, a middle-aged couple raising their two teenage children, Joni and Laser in suburban L.A. And everything seems to be going just fine until the moment Joni turns 18 and is convinced by her brother to reach out to their biological father. Hesitating at first, Joni eventually puts in a call to the sperm bank, who puts her in touch with Paul, a restaurant owner and all around "cool dude" who seems willing to meet the kids he never knew he had. As Paul arrives in their lives the family is thrown into disarray and sticky situations that threatens the stability of this already unusual family.

The Good: The acting is great with good chemistry between Nic and Jules. Well what else would you expect of Annette Benning and Julianne Moore and not to forget, Mark Ruffalo. And the younger actors (Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson) give believable and very good performances.

Also the films is very energetic and never really looses your attention.

The Bad: The Films stumbles around a bit not really knowing if it's a romantic comedy or a a family drama specially at the end but fortunately stays true to its core.

OK, so here is what is going on with The Kids Are All Right. When I think of Lesbian couples the image of the family portrayed by the stars of this movie comes to mind. I live in Kentucky so I don't ever really come into contact with any established lesbian couples, but I remember watching this video in a Sociology class about proposition 8 that featured all of these Kentucky based gay couples whose wholesomeness and nuclear family awesomeness were supposed to convince me that gay people should be allowed to adopt kids. For the record it didn't need to because I'm completely for gay people doing anything they want, but if I was ignorant then I might have been convinced. I mean, the couples were perfect, upstanding members of the community, their kids were involved in sports and clubs and they all just screamed 'It's Okay to be Gay and Have Kids!'.

What I most remember is that the families kind of all had this lingering desperation in their smiles, like were trying harder to be happy than most people because they were aware that other people would be judging them based on their ability to be happy under the scrutiny of social judgment. The family in the movie, Nic (Annette Benning), Jules (Julianne Moore), Lazer(Josh Hutcherson), and Joni (Mia Wasilowska), kind of all have that same desperation lingering around them. The film basically centers around what happens when the tension brought on by that added responsibility is broken by the intrusion of an outsider.

That intruder is Mark Ruffalo. I think the evolution of his character is one of the most interesting parts of the film. When we first meet Mark, he's just so cool. Everybody wants to be like him. Relaxed, carefree, seemingly very open and with an uncanny ability to understand and relate to people. He grows vegetables, doesn't hurt the environment and has sex with YaYa from America's Next Top Model. He seems like the opposite of Nic, the uptight, control freak, who's very traditional and leads a very traditional life despite or in spite of her gay lifestyle. So you think, 'oh, this movie is going to be about an outsider coming into a family and repairing the relationships within it'. Nic will loosen up and the kids will be able to open up to people because someone finally understands them. But unfortunately film hasn't been that neat and tidy since the 1930s. In this film, certain things come into play that switches our perspective and we come to identify more with Nic's character than we really expected. But we share sympathy with every character. At the end, we actually have the most sympathy for Mark, I would say.

This switch was unexpected and I think it makes the film special and more worthy than just a farce about a Lesbian couple and a straight guy. The best films are ones in which our expectations are inverted, I think. A film should be like a beautiful unopened flower. The bud is beautiful and then it opens, changes and becomes even more beautiful because of those changes. I know that sounds all preachy and lame but if you can't be preachy and lame on the internet than where can you?

My favorite parts of the film were where I saw flashes of my own relationships portrayed in situations presented by the characters. The conflict between Nic and Jules, where they love each other, accept each other, but clearly don't always like each other, injects the film with humor while at the same time serving as a painful reminder of how hard it is to settle down. That struggle to just continue to like the people you love is portrayed so poignantly in the little digs Nic pokes at Jules every now and again. The frustration they both feel is palpable. And If you have an overbearing mother like I do, than you know how it looks and feels to be shut down by your mom like Laser and Joni are by theirs. After every unintentionally overbearing comment, I was like 'wow, that was a real moment.' I have to say that I was a little disappointed with Laser's character. I feel like his character was so rich in the beginning, but really died away to almost nothing by the end. Just a few archetypal little brother comments thrown in to remind us that he's still there. I feel this way because we spent a lot of time with his character in the beginning, understanding that he's a fifteen year old boy. He's moody. And he's searching for something to define him outside of his mothers. That's undoubtedly why he is initially so passionate about finding his biological father. But though his relationship with Mark is pivotal, it is not really explored as deeply as is Mark's relationship with Joni. Basically his character was traveling to a destination that it just didn't reach. But this could be intentional. Teenagers are supposed to be mysterious and confusing so maybe it's true to his character to leave him unexplored. However, it did disappoint me. I don't know how this movie is going to do during awards season. I assume it will do well, but more because of the trendy subject manner than due to it's merit as a film. I don't know, the film society just votes that way sometimes. But it moved me and that's worth an award to me.

It's unavoidable to compare. We're at the beginning of the world our grandchildren are going to take for granted. But now, we compare and realize that family is by choice or design a place, a state of mind, in which love does or must flourish. Beautifully told with a sensational performance by Annette Bening. Without preaching or candy coating the story we realize that the future has a chance. Two women, one sperm donor and two children. Why not? We see the results on the children's faces. Mia Wasikowska is the daughter. Smart, compassionate, mature beyond her years. Josh Hutcherson is the son and, although he is the least developed character, I loved him, with his lopsided smile and his healthy curiosity. Mark Ruffalo, wonderful, showing us, as the sperm donor, another face of a character he has a monopoly in, the lovable loser. He is terrific! Julianne Moore is still an actress I find very hard to surrender to. Her acting is so much upfront that it takes you out of the truth she's trying to convey. However I loved the film and I only hope Hillary Swank is not nominated next year so Annette Bening finally gets what she so richly deserves.