Movie · 2010 · Comedy, Drama · 1h 46m · R · English
Curator score: 5.3/10 (213.3K ratings)
Nic and Jules had the perfect family, until they met the man who made it all possible.
Overview
Two women, Nic and Jules, brought a son and daughter into the world through artificial insemination. When one of their children reaches age, both kids go behind their mothers' backs to meet with the donor. Life becomes so much more interesting when the father, two mothers and children start to become attached to each other.
Ratings
Curator score: 5.3/10
IMDb: 7.0/10
Letterboxd: 3.33/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 93%
Metacritic: 86
TMDB: 6.6/10
Director
Lisa Cholodenko
Production
Focus Features, Mandalay Vision, 10th Hole Productions, Gilbert Films, Saint Aire Production, Artist International
Cast
Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska, Josh Hutcherson, Yaya DaCosta, Kunal Sharma, Eddie Hassell, Zosia Mamet, Joaquín Garrido, Rebecca Lawrence Levy, Lisa Eisner, Eric Eisner, Sasha Spielberg, James MacDonald, Margo Victor, Stuart Blumberg, Diego Calderón, Amy Grabow, Nino Nava
Curator Review
Verdict
A sharp, adult dramedy about marriage, parenting, and the messiness of desire, carried by strong performances and a lived-in domestic realism. It’s especially rewarding if you like character-driven family stories that stay emotionally grounded even when the premise gets awkward.
Best for
viewers who like intimate relationship dramas
fans of ensemble acting and domestic realism
audiences interested in queer family stories
people who enjoy bittersweet dramedy with bite
Skip if
you want a cleanly affirming or feel-good queer story
you dislike infidelity as a major plot engine
you prefer high-concept plotting over everyday emotional conflict
you’re looking for a broad comedy
Overview
The Kids Are All Right works best as a portrait of a family in slow-motion crisis, where the real drama is not the donor plot but the accumulated friction of long-term partnership. Lisa Cholodenko keeps the tone light enough to be funny, but never so light that the hurt feels trivial. The movie is observant about marriage, parenting, and the way desire can destabilize a household that looks secure from the outside.
Worth noting
Julianne Moore and Annette Bening give the film its emotional voltage, with Mark Ruffalo adding charm and volatility in equal measure. The script is deliberately uncomfortable at times, and that has made it divisive, but the movie is strongest when it refuses easy moral sorting and lets everyone be a little selfish, needy, and recognizably human.
Bottom line
If you respond to character studies more than plot mechanics, this is a worthwhile watch. If you need your queer stories to avoid the old familiar wounds of betrayal and compromise, it may feel frustrating rather than cathartic.
Top Letterboxd reviews
kyle (4★) · 1253 likes
the kids may be all right but is mark ruffalo's backyard? did that shit ever get finished? like... julianne honey you had ONE job
nanci (3★) · 1076 likes
I just want a lesbian movie where the lesbians are happy, where they’re comfortable and where they don’t cheat on their wives with men.
𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 🌷 (3.5★) · 896 likes
You don’t know how mad I am that this goddamn kid’s name is LASER.
mur (1.5★) · 620 likes
this has a 93% on rotten tomatoes and i just want to know why? because it shows a "flawed lesbian family"? because let me tell you, there are plenty of better ways to show that than by having a lesbian cheat on her wife of 18+ years with a MAN, and not just any man, but their sperm donor. also paul could've been an amazing character and at first he was. he was a nice father figure that came into… more this has a 93% on rotten tomatoes and i just want to know why? because it shows a "flawed lesbian family"? because let me tell you, there are plenty of better ways to show that than by having a lesbian cheat on her wife of 18+ years with a MAN, and not just any man, but their sperm donor. also paul could've been an amazing character and at first he was. he was a nice father figure that came into… more