The Kids Are All Right is an American comedy-drama written by Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg and directed by Cholodenko. The film was awarded 2 Golden Globe Awards as well as receiving 4 Academy Award nominations making it one of the most talked about movies of the year.

It is centered around Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore), a lesbian couple with a daughter Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and son Laser (Josh Hutcherson). Nic and Jules seem to be complete opposites – Jules is a scatter brained hippy while Nic can be quite controlling of her wife and children.  Once Joni turns 18 her brother convinces her to contact their mum’s sperm donor – enter Paul (Mark Ruffalo) who turns their lives upside down. Though generally well accepted by the family after a shaky start, it is Nic who fears that his sudden appearance will destroy the tightly controlled life she has made for her wife and children.

Although it can take a while to get sucked in, overall the film is a funny and extremely realistic portrayal of a modern day family.

The Kid’s Are All Right is refreshing in that it does not primarily focus on the problems that a same sex marriage has bringing up children, instead opting to show how similar a homosexual marriage is to a heterosexual one - this is emphasised by Moore’s speech about how difficult married life is towards the end of the film. The focus seems to be on the difficulty of raising teenagers  - from concern about their friends’ influence to dropping them off at college, while worrying about outside influences that are capable of shaking a seemingly steady family foundation. The couple are brilliantly portrayed by Moore and Bening and aided by the fantastic writing.

DVD Extras

The DVD includes several features; The Journey to forming a family, showing how the idea for the The Kids Are All Right came about as well as interviews with the cast and writers. It has 2 features showing the making of the movie and another showing how the story evolved. It also includes optional movie commentary with Lisa Cholodenko.