The Kids Are All Right (2010)

Two children conceived by artificial insemination bring their biological father into their non-traditional family life.

Director:

Lisa Cholodenko

Writers:

Lisa Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg

Stars:

Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 29 wins & 129 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Julianne Moore	...	Jules
Annette Bening	...	Nic
Mark Ruffalo	...	Paul
Mia Wasikowska	...	Joni
Josh Hutcherson	...	Laser
Yaya DaCosta	...	Tanya (as Yaya Dacosta)
Kunal Sharma	...	Jai
Eddie Hassell	...	Clay
Zosia Mamet	...	Sasha
Joaquín Garrido	...	Luis
Rebecca Lawrence Levy	...	Brooke (as Rebecca Lawrence)
Lisa Eisner	...	Stella
Eric Eisner	...	Joel
Sasha Spielberg	...	Waify Girl
James MacDonald	...	Clay's Dad (as James Macdonald)

Storyline

Nic and Jules are in a long term, committed, loving but by no means perfect same-sex relationship. Nic, a physician, needs to wield what she believes is control, whereas Jules, under that control, is less self-assured. During their relationship, Jules has floundered in her "nine to five" life, sometimes trying to start a business - always unsuccessfully - or being the stay-at-home mom. She is currently trying to start a landscape design business. They have two teen-aged children, Joni (conceived by Nic) and Laser (by Jules). Although not exact replicas, each offspring does more closely resemble his/her biological mother in temperament. Joni and Laser are also half-siblings, having the same unknown sperm donor father. Shortly after Joni's eighteenth birthday and shortly before she plans to leave the house and head off to college, Laser, only fifteen and underage to do so, pleads with her to try and contact their sperm donor father. Somewhat reluctantly, she does. He is late ...

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Plot Keywords:

female frontal nudity | pantyhose | lesbian | f rated | sex scene | 

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Taglines:

Nic and Jules had the perfect family, until they met the man who made it all possible.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexual content, nudity, language and some teen drug and alcohol use

Did You Know?

Trivia

When Jules is trying, awkwardly, to explain the reasons that lesbians might prefer to watch gay male pornography rather than porn showing two women together, one of the reasons she gives is that they always cast two straight women pretending to be gay in those movies. Both Julianne Moore, who plays Jules, and Annette Bening, who plays Nic, are straight actresses pretending to be lesbians for this movie.

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Goofs

Laser tells Paul that Joni got the National Merit Scholarship for science; however, National Merit Scholarships are not awarded in any specific categories. Candidates are chosen because of high scores on the PSAT, which does not include a science section.

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Quotes

Jules: Go easy on the wine, hon. It's daytime.
Nic: Okay. Same goes for micromanaging, okay?

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Connections

Referenced in Filmselskabet: Episode #1.4 (2012)

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Soundtracks

Out in the Woods
Written and Performed by Leon Russell
Courtesy of Capital Records
Under license from EMI Film & TV Music

User Reviews

Mothers

It's unavoidable to compare. We're at the beginning of the world our grandchildren are going to take for granted. But now, we compare and realize that family is by choice or design a place, a state of mind, in which love does or must flourish. Beautifully told with a sensational performance by Annette Bening. Without preaching or candy coating the story we realize that the future has a chance. Two women, one sperm donor and two children. Why not? We see the results on the children's faces. Mia Wasikowska is the daughter. Smart, compassionate, mature beyond her years. Josh Hutcherson is the son and, although he is the least developed character, I loved him, with his lopsided smile and his healthy curiosity. Mark Ruffalo, wonderful, showing us, as the sperm donor, another face of a character he has a monopoly in, the lovable loser. He is terrific! Julianne Moore is still an actress I find very hard to surrender to. Her acting is so much upfront that it takes you out of the truth she's trying to convey. However I loved the film and I only hope Hillary Swank is not nominated next year so Annette Bening finally gets what she so richly deserves.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA France

Language:

English

Release Date:

30 July 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Kids Are All Right

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$491,971, 11 July 2010

Gross USA:

$20,811,365

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$34,758,951

Company Credits

Production Co:

Focus Features, Gilbert Films, Saint Aire Production

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1