Une famille unique

It's unavoidable to compare. We're at the beginning of the world our grandchildren are going to take for granted. But now, we compare and realize that family is by choice or design a place, a state of mind, in which love does or must flourish. Beautifully told with a sensational performance by Annette Bening. Without preaching or candy coating the story we realize that the future has a chance. Two women, one sperm donor and two children. Why not? We see the results on the children's faces. Mia Wasikowska is the daughter. Smart, compassionate, mature beyond her years. Josh Hutcherson is the son and, although he is the least developed character, I loved him, with his lopsided smile and his healthy curiosity. Mark Ruffalo, wonderful, showing us, as the sperm donor, another face of a character he has a monopoly in, the lovable loser. He is terrific! Julianne Moore is still an actress I find very hard to surrender to. Her acting is so much upfront that it takes you out of the truth she's trying to convey. However I loved the film and I only hope Hillary Swank is not nominated next year so Annette Bening finally gets what she so richly deserves.

The movie follows a Nic and Jules, a middle-aged couple raising their two teenage children, Joni and Laser in suburban L.A. And everything seems to be going just fine until the moment Joni turns 18 and is convinced by her brother to reach out to their biological father. Hesitating at first, Joni eventually puts in a call to the sperm bank, who puts her in touch with Paul, a restaurant owner and all around "cool dude" who seems willing to meet the kids he never knew he had. As Paul arrives in their lives the family is thrown into disarray and sticky situations that threatens the stability of this already unusual family.

The Good: The acting is great with good chemistry between Nic and Jules. Well what else would you expect of Annette Benning and Julianne Moore and not to forget, Mark Ruffalo. And the younger actors (Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson) give believable and very good performances.

Also the films is very energetic and never really looses your attention.

The Bad: The Films stumbles around a bit not really knowing if it's a romantic comedy or a a family drama specially at the end but fortunately stays true to its core.

Products of same parents different mothers inquisitive teens Joni and Laser seek out their biological father. Paul (Mark Ruffalo) turns out to be a likable laid back vacillator that the kids would like to have more of in their lives. Nic (Annette Benning) a focused doctor is cautious while Jules (Julliane Moore) more free wheeling in the mode of Paul connects with him in more ways than one.

Kids is a basic dramedy of bump in the road marital discord enhanced by the changing make- up of today's nuclear family. The same problems of raising a family and maintaining individual identity within the unit are dealt with here as in any union but with the added dynamic of same gender partners struggling with traditional heterosexual hurdles.

As lovers and parents Moore and Benning are excellent as they display a nice comfortable chemistry with each other, casually defining and revealing the problems in the relationship without hysteria. Opposites in many ways Benning's Nic is rigid but pliable, Moore's Jules free spirited but conflicted; yet they balance each other well as long time companions. Ruffalo's Paul has a nice irresponsible charm at first that allows him to inveigle his way into the family setting momentarily by winning over the kids and Jules as well as a grudging respect from Nic.

Director Lisa Cholodenko maintains a spry enough pace by moving from character to character without bogging down in the superfluous chatter that devoured Laurel Canyon and along with a trio of winning performances to carry it along "The Kids.." is a lot better than all right.

The Kids Are All Right is one of those sweetly sentimental comedies that manages to be funny as well. It's about a decidedly unorthodox family that's far from perfect – and what happens when a so-called interloper arrives on the scene. It's wonderfully acted, with affecting performances by Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore, and it's engaging entertainment, no small feat when the subject of touching charm arises.

Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Moore) are a married lesbian couple in California with two kids, Laser (Josh Hutcherson) and Joni (Mia Washikowska). Two two kids – one for each mom – are the result of a sperm donor, and when Joni turns 18 she places a call to the sperm bank at her brother's behest. The two wind up meeting Paul (Ruffalo) and hit it off, but when the two moms meet him, they have strikingly different reactions to his arrival.

There's excellent conflict afoot here. The kids resent their moms for being so defensive about their wanting to know about their own biological father; the moms resent the kids for looking into the matter themselves. X is the calm, mediating type; she's outwardly caring and splits her time between raising the two kids and starting new (doomed) businesses. By contrast, Nic is more inwardly insecure, and she compensates by controlling as much as possible of the lives of the other three. No wonder Paul's appearance causes Nic to get her back up.

The movie isn't one of those where increasingly wacky situations occur. It's not a slammed-door comedy. People behave as if you'd expect them to behave, which is nice thing to see in a comedy (rather than exaggeration of gestures and speech, for example). Eventually, it isn't enough that Paul shows up in everyone's lives, disrupting what little harmony they have; something else happens as a result of his appearance that really behaves as the key conflict. And for once, when the culprits are confronted, there is no neatly tied response given by the rest of the family.

Another pleasant aspect of the movie is that it never treats the relationship between Bening and Moore as if it were anything but the most commonplace thing on earth. It's not just that these two woman are married and in love, it's that they're also utterly human – they fight each other convincingly, they get their feelings hurt, and they reconcile with the kind of subtlety you rarely really see in movies these days. Each character, rather than being simply caricatures of what a straight person would assume a gay married couple would look like, has her own striking personality, and the two actresses perform quite well. I think Moore comes off a little better and that Bening's character sometimes seemed a little one dimensional – but this is more likely an oversight on the part of the writer, not the actress. Ironically, it was Bening who received an Oscar nomination for this movie, but I think Moore's work was superior here.

Overall, the script neither flashy nor contrived; situations don't crop up just so we can have a laugh at someone's expense. Well done.

The Kids Are All Right is a genuinely funny movie. It's not a gagfest, and it wasn't meant to be one. The characters are sincere but not always forthright; they all seem to make a bad decision or two in the movie. The cast was well selected (lest I forget, Ruffalo is aces as a laid-back buttinsky, if such a thing can exist), and it's a movie worth seeing.

In Los Angeles, the lesbians Jules (Julianne Moore) and Nicole "Nic" (Annette Bening) are mothers of the eighteen year-old Joni Mitchell (Mia Wasikowska) and fifteen year-old Laser (Josh Hutcherson) that have been conceived by the same sperm donor for the artificial insemination. Nic is a doctor; Jules is a housewife graduated in architecture and has just started a gardening business but she is not supported by Nic and has no clients; Joni has joined the college; and Laser is in high-school. Out of the blue, Joni decides to seek out her biological father and she finds Paul (Mark Ruffalo), who is a businessman with a restaurant and a nontrangenic plantation. After the first encounter, they invite Paul to have dinner with their family and Paul hires Jules to transform his back garden. Paul gets close to Joni and Laser and has a love affair with Jules. He falls in love for her, but Jules still loves Nic. Meanwhile Nic feels that she is losing her authority with the children and is jealous of Paul. How will this triangle of love end?

"The Kids Are All Righta" is an original dramatic comedy (or comic drama) about an unconventional family that is deeply affected when the sperm donor is brought to them. The conclusion is realistic and without any concessions. The eternal beauty of Julianne Moore is another attraction of this little film. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Minhas Mães e Meu Pai" ("My Mothers and My Father")