THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT

This gentle warm delightful comedy is about a well-adjusted, happy, loving and quite devoted family.  The two teenage children have reached that awkward stage when they start questioning things, in this case, to find out who their biological father is.  It just so happens that their two parents are a lesbian couple, but that aside, this is not a ‘gay’ movie per se but a story about a modern family that just doesn’t have a man in their immediate family circle.  Well, for the present at least.

The children’s curiosity drives them to track down the sperm donor who is technically their father, and when they find him they discover that he (Paul) is a one-time hippie who has progressed to running an organic restaurant and smallholding, which makes him appear so cool in their eyes.  It also seems to act as a counterbalance to their slightly wired up mothers; Nic is a Gynecologist who perpetually worries, and Jules who has tried to combine raising them up with various different career choices, is always restless.

The earth doesn’t move with the mere presence of Paul now  in all their lives, but when he hires Jules (she is now going to try her hand at landscape gardening), and they end up making out, then their peaceful and cozy existence is shattered.  

The beauty of this delightful movie is that even such unexpected turns of events are treated intelligently and sympathetically and without recourse to high drama.  It is after all a story about a very successful marriage and although not perfect is about as near as it as one could expect.

Liza Cholodenko’s articulate and sensitive script is served well with Annette Benning as Nic, and Julianne Moore as Jules, who both give chillingly accurate pitch prefect performances …. particularly Ms Benning, who could not have been better.  Mark Ruffalo (as Paul)  is his usual laid back self that never seems to stretch him to play yet another easygoing men, but in this instance it works very well.

R.T.V. An adult themed movie by adults for adults . And it is superb too