The Kids are All Right (2010) yes OK I'm only a FEW years out of date. If you don't know already, a family comedy for the modern age revolving around the chaos that ensues when the two children of a lesbian couple seek out their sperm donor dad. Was expecting it to be blindingly brilliant because of the number of 5-star or 100% approval ratings it got from US and UK critics and because it looked like the sort of thing (indie-ish, grown-up non-CGI human dramas with believable situations and good acting) that I normally get on with. Left feeling a bit meh about it, and definitely not going along with the frenzied adoration.
Good things: Absolutely fantastic cast and acting (Mia Wasikowska is my new screen idol, Mark Ruffalo's as brilliant as ever at being rumpled and sexy, Annette Bening's brilliant at being not that likeable as a tightly-wound control freak who likes wine too much, Julianne Moore's great at being flaky and selfish and yet sympathetic.) Yes, it IS important that lowkey family comedies start reflecting 21st-century realities like lasting gay & lesbian partnerships, adoption, sperm-donor kids etc, and this film is a move in that direction. The soundtrack is pretty good and there's a brilliant bit where the sound mix gives you a deep dramatic hit as well. Some of the dialogue's great. And it does manage to be unpredictable and not-what-you-were-expecting in lots of ways.
Bad things: it's a rich white Californian's view of the world. It's smug as fuck (even when /as it satirises people who're smug as fuck) and personally I just found many of the characters unforgivably self-indulgent and shrill and unlikeable. It treats its characters of colour like disposable extras (just as its characters do). It sometimes pulls its punches a bit and doesn't go far enough, imho in the direction of either broad comedy or savage satire. Overall I was disappointed because it's a good enough way to spend an hour and a half but it's definitely not the New Age of Filmmaking it was touted as at the time of release.
absolutely! I dunno why we thought it was good, we tend to DL stuff and then it sits there, and as we knew it wasn't child friendly and he's not here we thought we'd watch it.
