The Kids are All Right Review

-Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2011
-Other Academy Award Nominations include: Best Actress (Annette Bening), Best Supporting Actor (Mark Ruffalo), Best Screenplay (Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg)

Brooke's Review:

The Kids Are All Right was one of "the other" nominees for best picture -- one that I had never heard of until the night of the Oscars. I was more focused on some of its peers including the winner who will remain nameless in this post (don't worry it is coming up shortly). However, as soon as I discovered who was among its cast I was immediately interested. I mean Annette Bening AND Julianne Moore AND my new love, Mia Wasikowska?! Definitely got me hooked. As with many new movies I soon found the film on Netflix and put it on my queue on the spot.

But I still did not know what the movie was really about. I heard it had a family with a lesbian couple for parents which arguably makes it "contemporary" and unique. Little did I know it was full of family drama and lessons learned that resemble many families today.

I love Mia Wasikowska. Her natural ability to transform herself into any character never ceases to amaze me - from her stint as Alice to this role as a teenager transitioning to young adulthood to her recent depiction of JANE in Jane Eyre. Each part is completely different from the last so much so that I didn't even recognize her in Jane Eyre as being the same actress as in Alice & Wonderland until someone pointed it out to me. In the Kids Are Alright she had a way of letting the audience know what she was thinking without saying a word. Like the way she looked at Laser after telling him she would not make the call to find their sperm donor which later led to her doing that exact same thing because she recognized how important it was to her brother. I like her character's ability to be the independent older sibling why still "around" enough to protect her younger brother and assist him in personal growth. Or the look of disgust she gave Mark Ruffalo when she finds out his character, Paul, cheated with one of her mothers. Later on in the film she made it clear that she was done getting to know him and did not want him a part of her life after what he had to done to her family. I like the way she stuck up for her moms and did not fall prey to Paul's spontaneous nonchalant parenting. She was able to distinguish between her desire to get to know her "cool biological father" & the early bond they shared with what he let happen with Jules was wrong and that his presence led her family into poor relationship.

One of the concepts highlighted for me was parents make mistakes. Growing up it's easy to see parents as these people that know everything and can do no wrong. I know I held mine to a higher standard expecting that they would do everything perfectly. Now out in the adult world I see how unrealistic this expectation was as life often throws curve balls which challenge us on the spot - we all just do the best we can in the moment. That being said, I like how they dealt with mistakes in this film. They healed as a family and forgave each other; they did not encourage bad behavior or tolerate it but they supported the family member who was struggling in order to repair their family bond. At the end of the day all that mattered was that they loved one another.


Acting: Highlight of the movie. I loved Annette Bening and Julianne Moore. I found myself relating to parts of both characters Nic and Jules which interacted as spouses in a very realistic manner. Some of the fights they had in their relationship or the way they managed their family were very typical in an average family today - easily relateable. Mark Ruffalo did a superb job as well even though I did not personally care for his character Paul (that probably means he did a good job). Mia -- loved her (see above).
Story: The lesbian couple/sperm-donor family angle was definitely unique but beyond that the plot line was a little predictable. The happy family with foreshadowing issues which ultimately leads to resolution and people learning from their mistakes is a little cliche. Especially the fact that it involved one of the spouses having an external affair which she later claims to regret. This has been in numerous plot lines although I will say that the fact that I could see Paul's potential leverage to replace Nic and "steal" her family from her is a compliment to the storyline.
Directing: I'd like to compliment the flow of the film. I was neither bored no confused - just contently entertained.
Music/Soundtrack: Indifferent. I remember thinking that the songs were well placed with the moment for some of the scenes but nothing really stands out to me that would make me download any of the songs.
Editing: The editing was fair - nothing to complain about - but no memorable shots that made me say "ooh"
Costumes/Make-Up: I thought both Nic and Jules were dressed appropriately for their characters. I thought Mark Ruffalo's biker attire was a little exaggerated but no loss of points for that.
Screenplay: I thought the film had realistic dialogue including the one where Laser tells his moms "I don't think you guys should break up" -- 'No? why's that?' --- "I think you're too old" -- 'thanks Laser' --

Brooke's Overall Grade: B+ (89/100)

Geoff's Review:

The movie was put together nicely. I liked it, but it didn’t exactly wow me. The performances were really good, especially by the adults. I felt some of their reactions were very real and natural to what was going on. To me, it showed a real take on life, with some very common things almost everyone goes through. Kids trying to find out who they are. A couple struggling through a marriage. A rebel who plays it cool who all of a sudden realizes he has some growing up to do. Going in, I was wondering exactly what the plot line would be. I knew something about a lesbian couple raising children and Mark Ruffalo being the biological father. I didn’t expect that one of the moms then to sleep with the father, creating a whole world of twistedness.

I like watching movies or shows where the characters are flawed. Where they say the wrong things, or when they make mistakes. There were several instances in this movie where that is the case. The one that sticks out to me is when Bening’s character flips out inappropriately at dinner. At this point, I believe that Moore had already cheated, so obviously she has no real ground to stand on getting mad. But it just showed the problems they had in the relationship because a lot of things can contribute to why a couple isn’t happy or struggling. And it doesn’t necessarily can boil down to one thing. This particular example of Bening creating a scene and having Moore try to navigate through it is one that I have both experienced and witnessed countless times. Watching a couple where one person is embarrassing the other is a sad sight to see, and very hard to deal with.

Another flawed character was the biological father, with Ruffalo’s character all of a sudden wanting that family, wanting to be the father he never thought he’d be. I thought it was fascinating after all the shit hit the fan to have him stand there and want to run away and take the family, saying “let’s do this, grab the kids and let’s go”. It showed how he had gotten caught up with the idea of being the father and husband in the family. And I loved the reaction to each one of the other characters to this request: Hell no. It was showing how incredibly wrong and crazy it was to have him feel and think that way. Another example is when he drives the daughter home, and then opens his mouth in response to how Bening scolded her daughter. He obviously has no business saying anything to her about how to parent

At the end of the day, I thought it was a very good movie, but not a great movie. The 3 adults gave powerful and fantastic performances, but the ceiling for those is only so high. As good as they were, it just can’t add up to a performance like Colin Firth in The King’s Speech. I can see why this movie nominated, but I can also see why it didn’t win Best Picture, especially considering the competition it was up against that year. And the rewatch-ability just isn’t there: I feel like with just one time through the movie you’ve seen everything you really need to see. Even though it was well done, the ceiling of this movie just wasn’t that high. I feel like it’s a movie people should see, but don’t NEED to see.

Acting: The acting is the driving force in this movie. Ruffalo, Moore and Bening are the stars that make the movie what it is
Story: An Interesting story indeed. Not what I expected going in
Directing: The scenes are very real, with characters reacting to different situations just how human beings would
Music/Soundtrack: To be honest, I did not walk away from the movie with any thoughts about the soundtrack.
Editing: The movie ran smoothly, with scenes lasting the right amount of time and transitions well
Costumes: Ruffalo's attire captured his character on point. Same with Bening's.
Screenplay: It is a captivating story, with flawed characters making mistakes. The fights and arguments are very real and I feel can resonate with a lot of people.

Geoff Overall Grade: B (84/100)