The Kids Are All Right- Page 3

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/21/10 at 4:56pm

Wait - Julianne was the butch one?

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/25/10 at 10:43am

NEITHER of them is really "feminine", but Moore has always been the stay at home mom, the more comforting parent.


I just saw this last night in an overcrowded, too warm theater which a bunch of blue-hairs who all seemed to love it. As did I.

I found the PACING a tad slow in spots, but was simply intrigued with where the story was going and the performances from all FIVE of the main characters were stunning. What fabulous direction. I can't wait to see more work from the two young actors.

I rather LIKED the open endedness of some of the stories: Paul's hanging (the daughter does leave it open), the relationship the dd has with her male friend...but we do know they will "make it".

Kudos to all involved!

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 7/25/10 at 6:06pm

"Big fan of Brokeback Mountain, were you?"

Hey now. I love both films.

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 3:08pm

Interesting reading this thread. I am curious to see it and yet a bit turned off.

*spoiler alert*
I have heard from friends (mostly lesbians) that have been quite bothered by the fact the movie seems to say that a lesbian just needs to find the right man to change sides, so to speak, yet no one here seems to make note of that.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 3:13pm

I would have to say that though those lesbians, like so many lesbians before them, have not seen the movie but are bothered by it.

[ErikJ972]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 3:16pm

I thought that was going to bother me too...from watching the trailers. But that's not the way it's presented in the film at all.

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 3:17pm

They claim to have seen it ... I'll reserve my judgment until I do, was just curious.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 3:17pm

"the movie seems to say that a lesbian just needs to find the right man to change sides, so to speak, yet no one here seems to make note of that."

No one had made note of it because the movie actually doesn't say that. At all.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 3:43pm

Honestly, daydreamer, they sooooooo did not see it!

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 4:27pm

Thanks for your feedback, I am on the up-side of seeing it again.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/26/10 at 4:35pm

It's just a weird sexual attraction...which goes along with another part of the movie about sexuality. It is NOT about a "good man" making the difference.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 7/28/10 at 3:20pm

Thanks for the recommendation. I finally saw it, Namo, and as you predicted, loved it. Especially the Benning. She's fierce and scary and because she has a hair up her ass for the entire film reminds me of me. Perhaps that's why you recommended it?
At least we're no longer discussing THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE (speaking of hairs up asses...)

Updated On: 7/28/10 at 03:20 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 7/28/10 at 3:27pm

I did note that at first I was taken aback by that turn of events, but since it was written and directed by a lesbian, I decided that that mitigated any treacly feelings I might have.

And yeah, there's no way you can come to that conclusion your friends had if you've seen (or at least processed) the movie.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 7/28/10 at 3:36pm

Actually, the strongest statement the movie makes is that even a lesbian can gasp when she sees Mark Ruffalo's d--k. (Still my favorite moment in Moore's performance.)

[dramamama611]

Posted: 7/28/10 at 4:54pm

That was priceless.

[pushdabutton]

Posted: 7/28/10 at 10:12pm

Rosie O'Donnell saw this movie last night and loved it. She was talking about it on her radio show this morning. I really forgot how great this movie is and might have to go see it again at the movies.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 6:46pm

SF Bay Guardian interview with Cholodenko

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/3/10 at 10:15pm

Don't worry, Kate Clinton hated it. As did her unnamed gal pal (Urvashi Vaid) in a Huffington Post article called "The Kids are So So." The funny thing is, during the NPR interview when Cholodenko said she thought worrying about the guy thing seemed dated, I specifically thought of Urvashi!

[Roscoe]

Posted: 8/4/10 at 9:37am

I wanted to like it, I really did, and I really expected to like it, but it just didn't really work for me. I just found it hard to care much about the folks in it. I'll say it: I didn't much like the couple at the film's center. The acting was good, mainly, but this was the first Julianne Moore performance I've seen that I wasn't completely mad about. She just seemed to be working really hard at being kind of quirky and off-beat.

On the other hand, Ms. Bening was excellent, this is by far my favorite of her performances that I've seen.

On the whole: entirely okay, but not as special as everybody keeps saying it is.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 10/10/10 at 6:51pm

I saw it this weekend at my college with a bunch of friends (gay, lesbian, and straight) and really enjoyed it, thought everyone was great. I do agree more focused on the kids could have made for interesting fare rather than the couple. There was a bunch of things I could relate to with my own family (like my Dad being so enamored with his coming of age songs that he just sings it out). All of us could especially relate to Joni's need for space once she moved into her college dorm, yet not wanting her family to leave entirely. I actually thought the status of the relationship was an open question at the end while my lesbian friend thought there was reconciliation and more turned off by the cheating being accepted in her opinion.

I didn't think the movie was too quirky for its own good and I enjoyed certain insights in the writing (when Julianne Moore, I believe, explains to Lazer what attracts them to gay porn), but I had some issues *SPOILER ALERT*:

I thought both Joni and Lazer's friends were both awful yet Lazer gets treated more sternly and he breaks away from Clay realizing how awful he was. Joni's friend came off poorly too and apparently let Joni drive home drunk from that party. Joni separates from her friend more naturally since she moved 8 hours away for college but if I was her parents I would want that friendship to sour fast.

I wish the alcoholism of Annette Bening's character was more addressed than just drunk Joni lashing out on her. But I guess you can say like the relationship there is still a lot more that needs to be mended out.

[Q]

Posted: 12/2/10 at 2:17am

Finally saw this, and it made me pay attention, which isn't exactly the norm these days.

Really loved Annette's performance, a lot.

[broadwayjim42]

Posted: 12/2/10 at 9:49am

I liked the film a lot EXCEPT for the cheating angle. That it was a man bothered me less than the plot device itself...I just saw "Please Give" over the weekend and the same thing ticked me off no end. Isn't there enough drama without adding that?

I did choke up big time during the college move-in. I saw the movie a week or so after dropping my son off at school and the freaking dorm room was almost identical. And we'd all actually said "It's bigger than I thought."

The room, not Ruffalo.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 12/2/10 at 10:12am

We hated it. The theme of what makes a family and overcoming things that really should tear a family apart resonated with us and I could appreciate that, but little else. Other than the kids, I didn't think there was a likable character in the film. I was very distracted by all of the stereotypical LESBIAN stuff. One had short spiky hair, no make up, wore vests with short sleeve t's and was absolutely the more husbandly of the two. Seriously, she looked butch in her scrubs. The other dressed similarly and was the earth mother, no makeup, hippy chick who couldn't seem to find herself. She wore dirty looking men's jeans that hung off her ass in the fancy restaurant scene. It seemed like both actresses spoke from their lower registers just to make sure we got that they were gay gay. None of that stuff mattered to the story, but it was all distracting. I HATED the gay male porn. There was never any tenderness shown between the two of them when they were approaching sex. "Hmmmm, we haven't watched porn in a while. We could do that."

My wife and I didn't watch it together because I assumed going in that she would hate it and I would love it. I watched at home and she watched on the plane to the US. We agreed on almost all points. I did enjoy the kids and the initial meetings with their bio-dad. I never got the, "all lesbians need a good man" vibe. I got the, "a bored, ignored housewife will take what is offered," vibe. I did enjoy the final scene when they took Joni to college and the car trip home. I thought that was done well and very real. The rest just seemed like a big old mess and a bit of a bore. :/

Updated On: 12/2/10 at 10:12 AM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/2/10 at 11:53am

But dramamasmamas said Julianne was the butch one!

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/2/10 at 12:29pm

The acting was good, mainly, but this was the first Julianne Moore performance I've seen that I wasn't completely mad about. She just seemed to be working really hard at being kind of quirky and off-beat.

I noticed the same thing, like Moore was trying hard to fit into some butch lesbian mold. But it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the film, which I loved. I think what I liked most about the film is that the fact that the couple were lesbians seemed almost negligible. It could have been a film about a hetero married couple with kids. There was very little in the script that seemed to try and call attention to the fact that they were lesbians, or different, or treated differently as a couple. The basic story could have ended up as an extended L Word episode, but the director kept things on point and the subtlety of the film is what really moved me.