Monday, October 10, 2011

The Kids are All Right - Rest of the Movie Not So Much

I always hope a good movie with lesbians as the main characters is going to hit the mainstream. I guess for now, just the fact there are sometimes any movies with lesbians characters out there will have to be enough. Asking for "good" is apparently too much. I just spent too much time watching "The Kids Are All Right," a movie about a two-mom family with teen-age kids, and what happens to them all when the kids decide they want to meet their donor. I understand now where the movie got its title. After thinking about all the main characters, about all you can really say is, the kids were all right. The moms were the most annoying lesbian couple ever. The donor was sort of interesting in a clueless sort of way. I will say that there are some truths sprinkled here and there. At the end, one of the moms in a pretty badly delivered speech says that marriage is hard and after a lot of years, you stop seeing each other. Yeah, that seemed about right. I don't think it has to be that way, but know the truth of how it can happen. The movie should have been slicker, faster, more elegant, but for all the flaws, especially the annoying stereo-typically over-processing lesbians, there are some things they got right. Silly family moments, sweet couple moments, accidentally slighted feelings. If this was ever a book, it was probably very good. Some things should remain only in print.

2 comments:

Lynilu said...

I haven't see the movie, but as I read your review I couldn't help but wonder if some of this lackluster is due to the usual stereotyping in the roles. It rather sounds like it. I am not sure how we get away from it, but I really dislike seeing it as much as we do, about all kinds of people/roles.

Stella said...

The Kids are All Right" is about as mainstream as it gets: I remembered there were some Oscar noms (but no wins), so I checked: Best Picture: Best Actress (Annette Bening); Best Supporting Actor (Mark Ruffalo); and Best Writing; Original Screenplay. I didn't think the characters were stereotyped, but I also just didn't freakin' like the movie all that much. I wondered if all those Oscar nominations were acts of political correctness. Except Annette Bening, who was awesome. :-)