Pointless insulting movie.

Two lesbians have kids, then the two kids want to know who their father is...they find out. The mothers invite him to dinner for some bizarre and unnecessary reason. The "father" comes along, plays house and tries to be the father while pushing one of the mothers out of the picture (then has sex with the other mother).

For a film that is supposed to be about intelligent "liberal" lesbians, this sure makes them look uninformed and naïve. What enlightened person has sex with someone they aren't attracted to because they "want to be appreciated" as the cheating mother said rather than being a grown up and talking to your partner about needing to be appreciated?

As for the "father"... What man who donates sperm really wants to spend the rest of his life with the result of that donation without even knowing them at all beyond fun moments over food etc? What man wants to raise someone else's kids purely because they're fun? What lesbian woman wants to have sex with a man (let alone one she hardly knows beyond him complimenting her)?

What was the point of this movie? The only thing different at the end is that the kids know who their "father" is and now hate him, while their mothers are still their mothers and one of them is leaving home. Pointless and can only be seen as a token film about; A) Lesbian parent families with token making out between women B) Men being evil, opportunistic and big kids who are OK to know, but not OK to have around too long or they try to steal your lesbian partner and kids. And, C) Lesbian love prevailing in the end while the kids forgive cheating mom.

Seems like it was written by a lesbian who doesn't know many men and a man who is channeling his inner Big Daddy who wants fun kids and a wife he doesn't even know (while having no kids and wife in reality).

Oh..it was written by a lesbian and a man channeling his inner Big Daddy...move along nothing to see.

'THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

This indie critical darling is one of the best reviewed movies of the year and up until the climax I thought it was a pretty impressive little film. It is a well acted and realistic character study though with the likes of Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, Mark Ruffalo, Josh Hutcherson and 'ALICE IN WONDERLAND's Mia Wasikowska. It's directed and co-written by Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg (who also wrote 'KEEPING THE FAITH' and co-wrote 'THE GIRL NEXT DOOR', which I'm a big fan of both). The acting is all impressive, especially Ruffalo and Bening. Moore is good but she's been much better, maybe it's just the character she's playing here that doesn't give her as much to work with. The directing is adequate and fitting to the material and the screenplay is full of natural and believable characters and dialog. Even the ending, which I didn't like, seems believable it's just that it turns the film into a much less valuable learning lesson.

The film tells the story of Joni (Wasikowska) and Laser (Hutcherson) a brother and sister conceived through artificial insemination by their unhappy mothers Nic (Bening) and Jules (Moore). Joni is Nic's biological daughter and Laser is Jule's biological son and they were both conceived from the same sperm donor Paul (Ruffalo). On her eighteenth birthday, when she's legally able to do so without the consent of her mother, Joni contacts her biological father and she and Laser meet him secretly. Later their mothers find out about this and before allowing them to see him again demand to meet him as well. Nic, the controlling working mother, is very upset by the sudden involvement of Paul in her children lives but Jules (who has mostly been a stay at home mom) warms to him after he hires her to design and construct his back yard. Paul is a free spirited, fun loving co-op farmer and restaurant owner. This clashes with Nic but the rest of the family enjoys spending time with him and he really learns to love them as well. Complications arise.

I was really fascinated by all of the characters and learned to really like them, all except for maybe Nic who was just a little to controlling and self righteous (but believable). Paul to me was the most relate-able and likable character and the story and growth of all of the characters kind of revolve around him. Without giving away too much the movie ends in conflict and one of the characters is sort of used and abused and left with a lot of unfair judgment placed upon him. It is realistic and believable though it just seems like the movie is making heroes out of the wrong characters and villains out of others, that don't deserve it. This left me very much disappointed in the movie as a whole and that's why I can't overwhelmingly recommend it.

Watch our review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOOi1HDSXyA

"The Kids Are All Right" is a frustrating film because it has such a niche audience--and doesn't need to. Some potential viewers won't see it because of its lesbian themes--and there's not much you can do about that. However, others, who might not at all be offended with the gay subject matter won't see the film simply because of all the nudity and sex. I think this is a mistake, because if they toned down the sex, the film might be a good one to see with your teens--especially as much of the film is about teens.

The film begins with a household with two lesbian moms and their two kids. Things seem pretty ordinary (despite the unusual blended family)--that is until the kids, on their own, seek out their biological father--the man who donated sperm to their mothers years earlier. This little event, while seemingly harmless immediately after, turns out to be something that ultimately exposes problems in this gay marriage. How and what these problems are things you can find out for yourselves.

The film is well written and acted. There were also a couple scenes I loved--such as the one where the moms think their son is gay and the other where one of the moms (Annette Benning) goes on a tirade about trendy eating trends--like organics and artificial milks. I enjoyed the movie and felt that with a few minor cuts, it would be a great film for the family to watch and discuss. I also enjoyed that it was NOT a cut and dried view of gay marriage--the couple was not the noble stereotypical couple but had problems and quirks.