Review of The Kids Are All Right (2010) by Daniel P — 19 Sep 2012

This may well be the performance of Julianne Moore's career, in which we see her roll several of her previous types into an incredible character who's going through some form of mid-life crisis, confused in her sexuality and frustrated in her marriage (to a real Type A played well by Annette Bening) while trying to raise their two overly curious teenagers.

As the low-maintenance parent, Moore shines, needing to keep control but not wanting her partner to take over in their unwitting good-cop, bad-cop dynamic. Enter Mark Ruffalo, as the sperm donor who fathered the two children, and all the characters begin to feel threatened in different ways, questioning their relationships and roles.

It's a bit sappy by times, I admit, but this is a good film made much better by the quality of its actors, and it's an unconventional story that's consistently surprising and enduring in its simplicity and its true-to-life qualities.