Salina Art Center

Gay marriage is a hot button issue at the moment, with opponents arguing that it undermines marriage as a sacrament, and proponents countering that God is less concerned about rituals and more concerned that all humans love and care for one another.  Director Lisa Cholodenko is clearly on the “humanistic” side of the argument, but The Kids Are All Right is neither opportunistic nor shrill.  It’s much like Brokeback Mountain, which was at heart a touching, tragic love story that was only as “political” (or controversial) as each moviegoer wanted to make it.  The Kids Are All Right isn’t pushing a pro-gay agenda.  It’s a realistic look at a married lesbian couple that’s more perceptive and insightful about what it means to be married than most films dealing with “straight” couples.  Julianne Moore and Annette Bening portray Jules and Nic, respectively, whose androgynous names suggest that the sexuality of these characters is not as important as their humanity.  The lead actresses provide nuanced, sympathetic performances, making these characters and their problems by turns likeable, infuriating, embarrassing, and funny.  The film is a comedy, but not the laugh-a-minute variety; its humor arises from recognizable situations and the foibles of characters that we actually care about.  The premise is simple: Jules and Nic have two children, a boy named Laser (Josh Hutcherson) and an 18-year-old girl named Joni (Mia Wasikowska).  Jules and Nic each bore one of the children, using sperm from the same unknown donor.  Curious, the kids decide to seek out their biological father and find ex-hippie Paul, played by Mark Ruffalo with amusing “I’m OK-You’re OK” mellowness (naturally, he runs an organic food restaurant).  Paul’s such a laid-back, good-natured guy that Jules and Nic can’t get too upset when he enters their lives.  When he learns that Jules is thinking about going into landscape design, Paul offers her a job working on the yard of his Hollywood Hills home.  Inevitably-and this is the most controversial plot point-Jules and Paul have an affair.  The repercussions are presented by Cholodenko and co-writer Stuart Blumberg with considerable empathy for everyone involved.  Some critics were concerned that the affair undermined the depth and sincerity of the women’s relationship, resorting to the tired myth that “all lesbians need is to find the right man.”  That’s not the way the situation is portrayed here; there’s no question that Jules and Nic love one another-a testament to the direction, strong script, and engaging, natural performances of Moore and Bening, who have genuine chemistry.  In movies, the women in lesbian couples are often portrayed as “butch” and “femme,” but here the actresses create three-dimensional characters with distinctive personalities that resist these stereotypes.  Bening’s Nic is a serious, career-driven, “Type A” professional-a doctor-whose life is well-ordered, her plans set in stone.  Jules is undergoing a mid-life crisis of sorts, having tried one business venture after another but never finding her life’s work, her passion.  We sense that her uncertainty about the future makes Jules feel an affinity with aimless, “go with the flow” Mark, yet we hope her relationship with Nic will survive.  Cholodenko’s film is much lighter in tone than Brokeback Mountain, but it shares the same interest in how people find their soul mates-not just sex partners-which makes it far more mature and involving than most other films.  A certain contender for several Oscar nominations, The Kids Are All Right provides a gently comic, intelligent, and humane drama for adults.