It's easy to forget just how good an actress Annette Bening really is. After all, she doesn't work much these days. In "The Kids Are Alright" she serves notice that she's an acting force to be reckoned with. And she's not the only one. The entire cast is pitch perfect in Lisa Cholodenko's American family drama, "The Kids Are Alright".
Bening is a long-married lesbian doctor who has built a loving family and life by very traditional (except for the lesbian part) means. There's a home, a college age daughter, a teenage son and a house-bound, loving, earth mother wife played exquisitely by Julianne Moore. And of course, there's all the trouble and tension associated with any American family at this stage in their development. Then the kids decide to contact the man who donated the sperm to make this nuclear family possible and we are off to the races. Mark Ruffalo as the biological dad, Mia Wasikowska as the college-bound daughter and Josh Hutcherson as Laser the teen son all feel, well, honest, and that is the real strength of this film.
And for all that honesty you can credit writer/director Lisa Cholodenko. Her other feature work, "High Art" and "Laurel Canyon" pointed to the potential. "The Kids Are Alright" is potential fulfilled. Really, it's a rich and moving film watching experience. Nice work all around.
If I were a betting man I'd be heading to Vegas to plunk down some cash on this film getting a SAG Ensemble nomination and maybe even a whole bunch of Oscar love.
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I liked it, too. Wait...you know that; I was with you when you saw it. Still, that ending troubles me. But you're right, it's a good ending nonetheless if, for no other reason, the fact that I'm still thinking about it. Great movie! - Your sister
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