The recent years have brought us a totally new way of thinking about the "modern" way of having a family - a heterosexual family that is. Apparently this topic is most suited to a comedic approach with the hit series „Modern Family“ and now the comedic romance „The Kids are all right“ nominated for several Oscars like Best Picture, Best Lead Actress and Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Script. And deservedly so. The movie moves in a fresh and unapproached area of family with a lesbian couple, two kids and the sperm donator who gets mixed into the occasion and spices things up in many ways.
The story is lacking a bit focus and that is a good thing. We jump from one story angle to another which gives this movie a good pace to go with. The story starts with a general overview about the dynamics in the family. We have the bride young girl – Joni, the bit out of control boy – Laser, and of course Mom and…mom Nic and Jules. And later the sperm donator Paul is mixed into the occasion. He wants to get to know his kids better and so he becomes a part of the family, he participates at dinners, is doing sports with the kids and gives the unemployed part of the parents a job in his garden. From there on this entire movie is turning upside down and I can’t progress with the synopsis here without getting any spoilers away!
The story is lacking a bit focus and that is a good thing. We jump from one story angle to another which gives this movie a good pace to go with. The story starts with a general overview about the dynamics in the family. We have the bride young girl – Joni, the bit out of control boy – Laser, and of course Mom and…mom Nic and Jules. And later the sperm donator Paul is mixed into the occasion. He wants to get to know his kids better and so he becomes a part of the family, he participates at dinners, is doing sports with the kids and gives the unemployed part of the parents a job in his garden. From there on this entire movie is turning upside down and I can’t progress with the synopsis here without getting any spoilers away!
The thing with those romantic comedies is, that they are almost predictable from the get go. The Kids are all right is no difference in this, if you have seen a couple of those genre movies you pretty much know what’s gonna happen, that there is gonna be a twist were one member of the family gets turned away from the rest and so on. The refreshing part in this movie whatsoever is, that no stereotype can be entered here. With this total new way of presenting the family it is a new situation for movies in a different way. Usually the boy is cheating and then is crawling back in regrets and is doing something romantic for an hour on the screen to get back to the love of his life. It is in The Kids are all right but in a totally different way and not with all the drama and scenes that you know out of other movies.
The fact that one family member betrays the others is presented different here in the movie, no yelling, no screaming, not so many tears and no “I don´t want to see your FACE ever again!”. It´s all settled and quite which is a great way of showing a conflict like that. And in a bizarre way the betrayal is totally new as well. In a gay relationship, a straight betrayal gotta be something new.
But that’s not what drives this movie and makes it watchable. The best thing about this movie is the relationship and the acting. And in a way those two aspects are pulling together. Pretty much every conversation seemed authentic and real in a great way. Mark Ruffalo made a great job delivering the sperm donator who is really unsure of his role in this family, but understands the responsibility that he is taking by getting to know his kids better. Annette Benning is delivering big time as the working mother and the “core” of the family, the institution of the family. Julianne Moore is doing her share as well as the more “hippy” mother, that is really playing the betrayal down to earth. Even in the situations and conversations were the lesbians are talking to each other after the betrayal no tearjerkers are applied, just a down to earth bitterness and remorse that is coming from both ends in those conversations. Last but not least is Mia Wasikowska as Joni, the smart 18 year old girl. She is in a way the center piece and driving factor in this comedy. Her progression is the leading way through the movie, because the troubles are starting with her calling the donor and the movie ends – almost an open end – with her getting out of her parents’ house and moving in to a college flat. And what she is doing in her role is good. She is good in the conversations with her lines, her pronunciation is appropriate and most of all she plays a “changing” character with her –at first- being the protected child with no troubles in live and ending up drunk and yelling at her parents. That’s a twist that is not delivered well by every actor in Hollywood!
The only weak link in the cast is Josh Hutcherson. He is not getting the great exposure either but the scenes he is in he looks shallow and is overshadowed by every other actor that is in those scenes.
Nevertheless this movie is a perfectly enjoyable movie, with the only exception that it is pretty much a romantic comedy genre movie with no real inventive ideas that are turning the genre upside down. Still the modern family aspect is getting some laughts out and is creating some awkward situations, but it is not used in a way, that it could reinvent romantic comedies.
Rating : 8 out of 10
The fact that one family member betrays the others is presented different here in the movie, no yelling, no screaming, not so many tears and no “I don´t want to see your FACE ever again!”. It´s all settled and quite which is a great way of showing a conflict like that. And in a bizarre way the betrayal is totally new as well. In a gay relationship, a straight betrayal gotta be something new.
But that’s not what drives this movie and makes it watchable. The best thing about this movie is the relationship and the acting. And in a way those two aspects are pulling together. Pretty much every conversation seemed authentic and real in a great way. Mark Ruffalo made a great job delivering the sperm donator who is really unsure of his role in this family, but understands the responsibility that he is taking by getting to know his kids better. Annette Benning is delivering big time as the working mother and the “core” of the family, the institution of the family. Julianne Moore is doing her share as well as the more “hippy” mother, that is really playing the betrayal down to earth. Even in the situations and conversations were the lesbians are talking to each other after the betrayal no tearjerkers are applied, just a down to earth bitterness and remorse that is coming from both ends in those conversations. Last but not least is Mia Wasikowska as Joni, the smart 18 year old girl. She is in a way the center piece and driving factor in this comedy. Her progression is the leading way through the movie, because the troubles are starting with her calling the donor and the movie ends – almost an open end – with her getting out of her parents’ house and moving in to a college flat. And what she is doing in her role is good. She is good in the conversations with her lines, her pronunciation is appropriate and most of all she plays a “changing” character with her –at first- being the protected child with no troubles in live and ending up drunk and yelling at her parents. That’s a twist that is not delivered well by every actor in Hollywood!
The only weak link in the cast is Josh Hutcherson. He is not getting the great exposure either but the scenes he is in he looks shallow and is overshadowed by every other actor that is in those scenes.
Nevertheless this movie is a perfectly enjoyable movie, with the only exception that it is pretty much a romantic comedy genre movie with no real inventive ideas that are turning the genre upside down. Still the modern family aspect is getting some laughts out and is creating some awkward situations, but it is not used in a way, that it could reinvent romantic comedies.
Rating : 8 out of 10
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