The Kids Are All Right (2010)
(Spoilers Ahead)
Ugh, being an LGBTQ+ film you think this movie would get at least some brownie points from me as it follows a lesbian couple dealing with normal marriage issues while their kids grow and their oldest daughter is on the verge of moving out for college. Before she leaves though her and her brother become curious about their sperm donor and find him and start forming a relationship with him which only strains their moms' relationship more. This is one of those films I never could remember hearing about before creating the watchlist before this series but the more I heard about it the more I was impressed with what it accomplished back during the awards season in 2010-2011. Having come out in the summer this easily could have been a small movie to come and go but instead, it held on receiving praise throughout the awards season to follow and even getting a Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards. I was ready for this movie to hit me and make me fall in love with its story and this family but as it went on I found myself turning on these characters and its story and by the end, this film lost me more than I thought it could.
Ugh, being an LGBTQ+ film you think this movie would get at least some brownie points from me as it follows a lesbian couple dealing with normal marriage issues while their kids grow and their oldest daughter is on the verge of moving out for college. Before she leaves though her and her brother become curious about their sperm donor and find him and start forming a relationship with him which only strains their moms' relationship more. This is one of those films I never could remember hearing about before creating the watchlist before this series but the more I heard about it the more I was impressed with what it accomplished back during the awards season in 2010-2011. Having come out in the summer this easily could have been a small movie to come and go but instead, it held on receiving praise throughout the awards season to follow and even getting a Best Picture nomination at the Academy Awards. I was ready for this movie to hit me and make me fall in love with its story and this family but as it went on I found myself turning on these characters and its story and by the end, this film lost me more than I thought it could.
The biggest turn off and misstep I found in this movie was its characters. Not including the daughter, it is safe to say that I grew bitter and turned against every other character in this entire movie. They are all terrible people to a point and none get any proper redemption or interesting narrative to ever buy into the bullshit happy family message at the end of the film. Nic is the alcoholic mom who has lost her values with her family and has tension with everyone. She is easily the more respectable mom out of the two (we will get to her wife next) but that makes her far from good. Fueled by nearly nothing she does attempt to grow better relationships with her family midway through the film when she sets up dinner with Paul and even seems to stop drinking for half a dinner but this makes no sense. There has been no big event to make her completely change her personality specifically when interacting with Paul bringing the question of why she was such a bitch at all into the question. She genuinely has a good time talking to him and is even able to not have wine for the majority of the meal and where I could say that having her enjoy the wind at the end of the meal before discovering the fact that her wife has been cheating on her makes it seem like she is reverting back to her own ways drinking in small amounts is fine and having her slow down at all is progress in my book. It is with her wife Jules that the serious issues come into play as she cheats on Nic with Paul. Sure she has to sleep on the couch for a few nights but in the end, everything is going to be ok between the two which at a glance seems nice and reassuring but the fact that there is no scene of these two dealing with what happened and no reason for redemption ruins this scene for me. When I look at Jules I still just see a woman who cheated on her wife and the only explanation she could come up with is that marriage is hard? There is no reason given why we should forgive her and quite frankly I don't. She could have stopped at any time but instead chose to continue to go back time and time again betraying her family and call me crazy but that is not something I just forgive over a few weeks.
They try to build Paul into being a nice enough guy and even after his affair with Jules they try to show that he still really does care for his kids and might have some good in him. UMMMM NO, HE LITERALLY SEDUCED A WOMAN TO HAVE AN AFFAIR WITH HIM. Luckily they don't try to give him the same redemption at the end as they do with Jules but still, the idea that they thought we could view this guy as anything but disgusting is a testament to how clueless the filmmakers behind this movie were. This is not a character who gets layers or different sides after what he does. That brings us to the last one in the family which is Laser. As you can probably tell by his name he is a complete and utter dumbass who I truly hate. Maybe its partly because Josh Hutcherson is horrendous in this role but his character has the most boring and uninspired narrative of the entire movie. The majority of his plot centers on his friendship with a local kid named Clay who is a drug-loving looser. Despite literally everyone hating Clay, Laser finds friendship with him until he wants to pee on a dog. Where Laser was fine with doing drugs, doing dangerous dumb stunts at the park, going through his parents' sex toys among other events it's Clay wanting to pee on a dog that is too much for Laser. It's weird and dumb on so many different levels and is never brought up again.
I will say it is entirely possible that I hate these characters so much because of how little they do with them. I mentioned that they don't give any proper reason for redemption with these characters but even beyond that there is no conversation surrounding their actions or any nuance with their narratives. These characters do these shitty things and everyone moves on without bringing them up ever again which is fine for an immediate reaction but there needs to be more to the conversation this movie is trying to have. The most they give any of these characters is a quick conversation between Paul and their daughter Joni as he reassures her that their friendship was real but that is it for any of these characters. Give Jules a better reason than marriages being hard or explore the idea of there not being another reason. Don't just bring it up and expect the audience to either forget or forgive her for no reason. We don't have the 20+ year relationship that she and Nic had so even if she could move on with nothing more we have no connection with her allowing us to. Explore why Laser really broke off his friendship with Clay, don't just let the reason be that he wanted to pee on a dog. How did this affect his character? Why was he friends with Clay in the first place? Sure you can make assumptions but the movie does nothing to explore these things at all. It is a film that feels empty because of this lack of conversation and ends up creating interesting situations but does nothing to use or explore them. This is probably why I am so pissed off with this movie, it could have been amazing but for some reason felt like could skip the actual meat of the story that should be the entire purpose of the movie.
If I had to give this movie credit it would be mainly from the acting. Other than Josh Hutcherson everyone does try their best with what they are given and overall are solid together. Annette Bening is a joy in anything she is in and this is no exception, plus her chemistry with Julianne Moore is pretty solid which is impressive as their characters contradict so much of the time. Mark Ruffalo is great in his development as at first he seems cool and nice to be around but eventually falls into being slimy and disgusting. Mia Wasikowska is also great as the daughter and again is the only character in this movie I actually liked. The editing can also be pretty nice, where for the most part it is pretty standard there are a few scenes such as Nic finding out about her wife's affair and losing her shit during dinner that proves impressive and effective. Sadly past that this movie is an absolute mess in my opinion and is not going to be anywhere near my best of the decade list. If I saw this back in 2010 when it first came out I probably would just be able to pass it off as a harmless disappointment of a film but having it took up space on my Best of the Decade series and seeing the overwhelming success it had throughout its award season I can't help but grow bitter and angry at this movie. If you find depth in this movie and an effective message then good for you, but this movie is NOT all right in the slightest. Seriously fuck this movie.