Nic (Annette Bening), left, and Jules (Julianne Moore) delightfully portray the trials and tribulations of a same-sex couple trying to keep their family intact in “The Kids Are All Right.”
Wannabe progressives who insist the lesbianism of “The Kids Are All Right” is no big deal are kidding themselves. It’s a pretty huge deal.
With ace actors and a dynamite script, the film does for lesbians what “Brokeback Mountain” did for gays: It has that magical mix of prestige and mainstream accessibility that takes a story headlined by a same-sex couple and makes it appealing to just about everyone. That the movie itself makes no issue of its homosexuality, however, is crucial to its greatness. It’s a film about commitment and frailty and family, with a family that — whaddya know? — just happens to have two moms. It’s as vintage as it is fresh, with a thorough, infectious self-comfort.
It’s also impeccably cast, featuring the dream duo of Annette Bening and Julianne Moore as married couple Nic and Jules, Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson as their teenage children, Joni and Laser, and Mark Ruffalo as Paul, the kids’ sperm-donor father whom they seek out only to later watch him upend their little family. Director Lisa Cholodenko, who co-wrote the screenplay with Stuart Blumberg, and whose own life partly mirrors the events on screen, uses Paul’s arrival to facilitate necessary growth among her characters, but also shrewdly shows how everything was rather normal before a man and the prospect of a more traditional family unit invaded the picture.
Similarly, Cholodenko nestles the film’s simple themes right into the note-perfect dialogue without ever overstating the point: “Marriage is hard.” “Sexuality is complicated.” (“No matter who you are,” a lesser movie might have declared.) The filmmaker, despite her feminist impulses, funnels universal truths through a contemporary channel, and presents a modern family that’s just as lovably screwed up as any other.
Set and shot in a very lived-in, sun-kissed Los Angeles, “Kids” is a treasure trove of winning moments and performances. It’s hilarious and emotional in ways people will connect with and adore.
From where I’m sitting, the world looks a little bit better with this movie in it. How often can that be said?
The Kids Are All Right
R
Four reels out of four
In area theaters tomorrow
Vincere
NR
Available Tuesday
Italian actress Giovanna Mezziogiorno is sensational as the discarded, yet doggedly devoted first wife of Mussolini (Filippo Timi) in “Vincere,” an outstanding period piece directed by 70-year-old legend Marco Bellocchio.
Part melodrama, part biopic, part romance, and entirely engrossing, it’s a Lifetime flick hoisted into the lofty realm of great Italian cinema.
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