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The Kids Are All Right
(directed by Lisa Cholodenko, 2010)
The Kids Are All Right is a hysterical look at lesbians played by crazy and funny actress Annette Bening and Clarice Starling replacement from Hannibal, Julianne Moore. Nic (Bening) is an anal-retentive doctor and Jules (Julianne Moore) is a laidback lesbian landscaper. They get their kicks from watching hot vintage gay male porn while using a rabbit vibrator on each other (????!!!???) They have two teenage kids, Joni and Laser (yes, that's right, Laser), both from the same sperm donor, whom the kids go in search of and meet. He's Paul (Mark Ruffalo), a dark haired, sexy laidback bad boy on a motorcycle who grows organic food for a restaurant. The movie revolves around this lesbian family's relationship with Paul, mainly the parents' reaction to him -- and it's not all good.
Right off the bat, let me say that Annette Bening is the perfect lesbian. But still, she's Annette Bening. She really only works on one mode -- Annette Bening -- but that mode is universally set for anything, and here it is tuned to "lesbian". You know, I've been talking about American Beauty a lot in another thread, and I think I might bring it up again here because Annette was in that, too. The Kids Are All Right is sort of like another American Beauty, but not really. The most striking similarity is that Annette's daughter, Joni, has a female friend that only thinks about sex and she automatically develops a crush on Joni's dad, Mark Ruffalo's character. Not a shock -- that guy is hot as hell, and thank God he got naked here a lot, like he does in most of his movies -- but this friend character was like Mena Suvari in American Beauty -- only a lot uglier. What's up, Annette? Is this the only kind of movie you star in? Is there some sort of checklist you have - Script contains a sex-obsessed friend for my daughter and she wants to sleep with her father. "Yes, check, check, check."
Early in the film, I was afraid I wasn't gonna really like the thing - that I wasn't gonna laugh - but that's just my typical movie anxiety that I have. I'm happy to say that I laughed quite a bit, but no big gaffaws. Annette Bening certainly provided a lot of laughs. She was quite a character, and always drinking up a storm, too. Anyway, I was totally into this movie for a long time but I must confess that it sort of lost me at the very end. A BIG event happened - I'll keep it a secret - and, eh, I wasn't thrilled with the outcome. I felt the film didn't end right or something. These were some great characters and a great buildup, but instead of everything making a loud POP! at the very end, the balloon just sort of had a long, drawn out squeaky fart of an ending. Slowly, the air escaped and the magic was gone. The lesbian magician couldn't find the rabbit vibrator in the hat.
Annette did a great job at handling the proceedings. The kids were... eh... all right. Julianne Moore was Julianne Moore. Mark Ruffalo was like one of the hot studs out of the lesbian couple's favorite gay porno. Beautiful cinematography and a great little movie about an unusual family -- lesbians were portrayed in quite a normal light, I guess, but why do they watch gay porno movies? Like I said, this is a hysterical look at lesbians and I do feel that the lesbian relationship was examined much more than the relationship with the dad/sperm donor, although there wouldn't have been a movie without him. I'm not hoping for a sequel unless it's mainly Annette in the movie -- well, and Mark Ruffalo, naked. What a great sperm donor character. What a great lesbian dramedy. See it and talk about it.
(directed by Lisa Cholodenko, 2010)
The Kids Are All Right is a hysterical look at lesbians played by crazy and funny actress Annette Bening and Clarice Starling replacement from Hannibal, Julianne Moore. Nic (Bening) is an anal-retentive doctor and Jules (Julianne Moore) is a laidback lesbian landscaper. They get their kicks from watching hot vintage gay male porn while using a rabbit vibrator on each other (????!!!???) They have two teenage kids, Joni and Laser (yes, that's right, Laser), both from the same sperm donor, whom the kids go in search of and meet. He's Paul (Mark Ruffalo), a dark haired, sexy laidback bad boy on a motorcycle who grows organic food for a restaurant. The movie revolves around this lesbian family's relationship with Paul, mainly the parents' reaction to him -- and it's not all good.
Right off the bat, let me say that Annette Bening is the perfect lesbian. But still, she's Annette Bening. She really only works on one mode -- Annette Bening -- but that mode is universally set for anything, and here it is tuned to "lesbian". You know, I've been talking about American Beauty a lot in another thread, and I think I might bring it up again here because Annette was in that, too. The Kids Are All Right is sort of like another American Beauty, but not really. The most striking similarity is that Annette's daughter, Joni, has a female friend that only thinks about sex and she automatically develops a crush on Joni's dad, Mark Ruffalo's character. Not a shock -- that guy is hot as hell, and thank God he got naked here a lot, like he does in most of his movies -- but this friend character was like Mena Suvari in American Beauty -- only a lot uglier. What's up, Annette? Is this the only kind of movie you star in? Is there some sort of checklist you have - Script contains a sex-obsessed friend for my daughter and she wants to sleep with her father. "Yes, check, check, check."
Early in the film, I was afraid I wasn't gonna really like the thing - that I wasn't gonna laugh - but that's just my typical movie anxiety that I have. I'm happy to say that I laughed quite a bit, but no big gaffaws. Annette Bening certainly provided a lot of laughs. She was quite a character, and always drinking up a storm, too. Anyway, I was totally into this movie for a long time but I must confess that it sort of lost me at the very end. A BIG event happened - I'll keep it a secret - and, eh, I wasn't thrilled with the outcome. I felt the film didn't end right or something. These were some great characters and a great buildup, but instead of everything making a loud POP! at the very end, the balloon just sort of had a long, drawn out squeaky fart of an ending. Slowly, the air escaped and the magic was gone. The lesbian magician couldn't find the rabbit vibrator in the hat.
Annette did a great job at handling the proceedings. The kids were... eh... all right. Julianne Moore was Julianne Moore. Mark Ruffalo was like one of the hot studs out of the lesbian couple's favorite gay porno. Beautiful cinematography and a great little movie about an unusual family -- lesbians were portrayed in quite a normal light, I guess, but why do they watch gay porno movies? Like I said, this is a hysterical look at lesbians and I do feel that the lesbian relationship was examined much more than the relationship with the dad/sperm donor, although there wouldn't have been a movie without him. I'm not hoping for a sequel unless it's mainly Annette in the movie -- well, and Mark Ruffalo, naked. What a great sperm donor character. What a great lesbian dramedy. See it and talk about it.