Movie Review: Insightful 'Kids Are All Right'**** is much more than OK

The family model is changing — evolving, really.

Just as we've grown to accept the antiquity of defining the role of husband as breadwinner and wife as homemaker, we're becoming increasingly aware that the traditional family unit — man, woman, child or children — isn't necessarily rooted in such simplistic boundaries and limitations.

Gay couples are now part of our collective fabric, which some applaud as forward-thinking and others condemn as another step closer to Armageddon.

In either case, there seems to be a lingering mystery to same-sex relationships, as if being gay somehow changes the so-called norms of love and parenting.

The edgy comedy-drama The Kids Are All Right clearly aims to dispel any such notion by holding up as an example a family that, with minor adjustments, is a reflection of most households — but the longtime couple happens to be lesbians, Nic and Jules.

The pair is the seemingly perfect but flawed couple everyone knows. Nic (Annette Bening) is driven, demanding, and overly critical. Jules (Julianne Moore) is a free spirit and nurturer with no direction in her life. She hasn't had a true job in years and feels that Nic is resentful because of it, which has caused feelings of inadequacies. Nic, meanwhile, feels that she is the only source of discipline and direction for their two teenage kids, Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutcherson).

While Nic and Jules' relationship may have hit some turbulence, they keep their problems quiet for the sake of their kids, who are busy enough with their own lives: Joni is a high-achieving student about to leave for college who's unsure about having sex with her boyfriend. Laser is a star high school athlete who's having an adolescent identity crisis.

Joni and Laser were conceived through artificial insemination from the same anonymous donor, and Laser is certain that learning their father's identity will give him some answers as to who he is. With his sister's help he tracks down their father, Paul (Mark Ruffalo), a free-spirit restaurateur and bachelor with commitment issues.

Paul has never had kids, and becoming an instant father allows him to see what he's been missing. It also gives his life much-needed purpose.

Nic and Jules are not receptive to the idea of a stranger suddenly being thrust into the family, but agree to meet Paul for Laser's sake. It's Jules who takes to Paul quickly, while Nic remains distrustful and resentful as he begins to take a more active interest in the lives of Joni and Laser.

Things get even rockier when Jules also develops an attachment to Paul, as he gives her the one thing she's missing most in her relationship with Nic: encouragement. And when Nic discovers that Jules and Paul's friendship has turned into something more, she fears this once unwelcome stranger may have wrecked her marriage and family.

The Kids Are All Right features strong work by two top actresses. The steadily busy and always brilliant Moore is quietly putting herself in the league of the best actresses of the era. And it's always welcome to have Bening onscreen, especially because her movie roles are far less frequent.

Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) and Hutcherson (Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant, Journey to the Center of the Earth) deliver outstanding performances as well. But the critical piece in the film is Ruffalo.

Paul has a good heart and has an almost pathological need to help people. But he's also selfish and wants the rewards of a ready-made family without having to do all the work.

Ruffalo is challenged with taking Paul, a role that easily could have been written off as the villain, and making him likeable and sympathetic. It's a testament to Ruffalo as an actor that he pulled it off.

While this isn't Lisa Cholodenko's directorial debut, The Kids Are All Right provides her with her biggest platform yet. The film, which Cholodenko wrote with Stuart Blumberg, was a big hit at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Her direction is sure-handed and their script funny, poignant, and insightful.

While it may be unsettling to some that the couple in one of the truer depictions of a middle-aged married couple in recent years happens to be lesbians, the truth is that the American canvas has grown beyond the slice-of-life Norman Rockwell-style interpretations; it's more complicated, colorful, and inclusionary.

It's also, as The Kids Are All Right suggests, instantly familiar.

Contact Kirk Baird at:

kbaird@theblade.com

or 419-724-6734.