Review: "THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT"

Despite some people's efforts to permanently solidify the word's meaning, "family" has and always will be a fluid and ever-changing term. After all, what truly makes a family? Aside from the obvious blood relation-oriented usage of the word, a family can mean so many things. A group of close-knit friends may label themselves as a family, or even a posse of coworkers may even describe their relationship as having a family-like quality.

But some traditionalists may adamantly define a family as the stereotypical "nuclear family" unit of a father, mother, and a handful of kids. And thanks to the eternally contentious debate surrounding gay marriage and gay adoption (especially in light of the recent Proposition 8 controversy in California), it begs the question: does a family need have that June and Ward Cleaver-style foundation to be a "real" family? Or does the fact that two parents happen to be of the same gender really matter in the grand scheme of things?

Director Lisa Cholodenko (who created the Showtime television series "The L Word") makes it her goal to address this issue (or in her apparent view, non-issue) in The Kids Are All Right, an intelligent, superbly acted, and highly naturalistic dramedy that focuses on the family dynamic in an unexpected yet very satisfactory fashion.

Having been together for two decades, lesbian couple Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) have carved out a committed and comfortable life together, not only as partners but mothers as well. Both women became pregnant via in-vitro fertilization (both given by the same donor), and go on raising their daughter Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and son Laser (Josh Hutcherson). The perfectionist and bossy Nic works as a doctor, and the more laidback Jules has just started a fledgling landscaping business; however, when the soon-to-be college student Joni turns 18, she and her younger brother decide to seek out their biological father.

Their search produces Paul, a cool and collected restauranteur who's initially taken aback by meeting his children. Paul soon warms up to Joni and Laser (and vice-versa), and he eventually meets Nic and Jules. But tensions begin to rise, since not only does the controlling Nic feel hostile towards this complete stranger, but Jules ends up taking a liking to him, threatening to undermine the entire family dynamic.

Now, in my opinion, despite the self-professed progressiveness of Hollywood, there's never been a truly realistic depiction of the relationship of gay couples in mainstream cinema. In many movies featuring gay couples, they've always been TOO positive and happy in their presentation. But any couple, gay or straight, can tell you that every relationship is certainly NOT perfect. All couples have their flaws, tensions, and arguments, not to mention complex relationships with their kids.

And in that respect, Cholodenko has done a terrific job stripping away any possible stigma the film may have about it being a "lesbian movie" and instead simply make Nic and Jules possess the same husband-and-wife relationship as any heterosexual couple would. One is controlling and patriarchal, and the other is lax and laidback. There are the usual spats, arguments, and conflicts with the kids. The depiction is so natural and believable that you think that, well, you're watching your own mom and dad.

And it's the awards-worthy performances by Annette Bening and Julianne Moore that make it all work. They make the loving-yet-strained, decades-long relationship of the two women feel entirely convincing, especially in regards to Nic's insecurity, Jules' fears of the couple's passion fading, and their utter devotion to their two kids. Hutcherson and Wasikowska do a fabulous job as the teenagers who are searching for their dad, and Ruffalo is equally charming and conflicted as the womanizer who feels more and more comfortable with the prospects of being a father.

Despite the heavy thematic material present, The Kids Are All Right isn't too depressing or preachy, as there's plenty of humor present in the proceedings. The chemistry between the moms and the kids is warm and believable, and once again, you forget the fact that this movie is about a lesbian couple but rather just a couple (and there's even a very funny and ironic twist on the whole "parents being suspicious but vocally supportive about their child possibly being gay" theme in one scene).

While many people may fiercely debate about what truly makes a family, our ever-changing culture provides evidence that family doesn't depend entirely on the sex of the parents, and though the subject matter regarding tense family dynamics isn't anything new, The Kids Are All Right makes the point that "not normal" can be entirely normal.

Letter Grade: "A-"