The Kids Are All Right

The Kids Are All Right finds an interesting balance between the revolutionary and the conventional. In a way, it's a fairly typical family comedy-drama. But it just so happens that the family is headed by two moms (Annette Bening and Julianne Moore). The movie is charming and slightly annoying, expertly made but a little too slick and enamored of its unconventionality. "He just seems so self-satisfied," says Nic, Bening’s sharp-tongued doctor, after meeting Paul (Mark Ruffalo), the free-spirited restaurateur whose sperm donation fathered the kids she raises with wife Jules (Moore). She could be talking about the film, which simultaneously revels in and rails against political correctness. But this is not a lesbian movie designed to titillate; it's a human drama about relationships and evolving definitions of family. Ruffalo's woozy, beatific demeanor has seldom been used better. Bening is a kaleidoscope of toughness and vulnerability. And Moore is affecting as the conflicted Jules. Igor Jadire-Lillo's skillful cinematography caresses Bening's facial lines and Moore's freckles, underscoring another of the movie's endearing qualities: It's a romance about middle-aged people — not very glamorous, but beautiful nonetheless.