"The Kids Are All Right"

[00:00:00] You are listening to the Next Best Picture Podcast and this is our review of The Kids Are Alright.

[00:00:05] Alright everybody, you were just listening to the trailer for The Kids Are Alright and

[00:00:31] the story is as follows.

[00:00:34] Lesbian couple Nick and Jules have been together for 20 years bringing up two children thanks

[00:00:38] to the contributions of an anonymous sperm donor.

[00:00:42] As 18 year old daughter Joni prepares to leave for college, she and younger brother

[00:00:47] Lazer get curious about their heritage.

[00:00:50] Making contact with Paul, the laid back restaurateur whose sperm bank deposit helped

[00:00:56] bring them into the world, the two set off a chain reaction.

[00:01:01] The film is starring Annette Benning, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Vasovkoska and Josh

[00:01:09] Hutcherson.

[00:01:10] Here to join me today for this Patreon Throwback Podcast review for 2010 I have Josh Parham.

[00:01:17] Hello hello.

[00:01:18] Dan Baer.

[00:01:19] I love lesbians.

[00:01:22] And also joining us as a guest here from our Patreon and BP Film community we have

[00:01:28] Jack Greenwood everybody.

[00:01:30] Thank you for having me.

[00:01:31] Happy to be here.

[00:01:32] Nah thank you so much for being here.

[00:01:34] Thank you for volunteering to be here.

[00:01:37] I have not seen this film in 14 years since it theatrically released in the summer

[00:01:46] of 2010.

[00:01:48] It was a movie that had its world premiere though at the Sundance Film Festival.

[00:01:52] Lisa Chuladenko is a filmmaker who over the years especially in the aftermath of

[00:01:59] I've been begging to see another theatrical release from her.

[00:02:05] But she had quite a career prior to this with films such as High Art, Laurel Canyon,

[00:02:11] Cave Dweller and she's been working on television pretty much ever since doing

[00:02:17] episodes of Olive Kitchridge, Unbelievable the Girl from Plainville.

[00:02:22] And so with this movie though you know you had a lot of powerhouse actors coming

[00:02:26] together for this film and I remember too and someone could tell me if I'm wrong

[00:02:32] or not but I also remember you know back in this time 14 years ago seeing lesbians

[00:02:40] portrayed on screen in a non teen sex comedy sort of way but more like in just a very

[00:02:44] serious manner.

[00:02:46] It's one thing for that to be an indie film that is either not distributed or

[00:02:52] gets very little distribution and just kind of flies under the radar but this ended

[00:02:56] up becoming a Best Picture nominee.

[00:02:58] It was a modest box office success well actually compared to its budget a pretty big success

[00:03:03] I would say actually grossing nearly over $30 million against its budget.

[00:03:09] So I feel like in a way this is a film that really did help I think ease into

[00:03:16] the conversation more that lesbians are more than just a punch line they are more

[00:03:20] something to laugh at in you know an American Pie movie for example and these are stories

[00:03:27] about real people that are taken seriously and are relatable and is something that everybody

[00:03:33] can learn something from here.

[00:03:35] And so in talking about this movie and revisiting it all this time later I'm

[00:03:38] curious to know how it holds up for you all not just based within the context of

[00:03:43] 2010 but then also too for today.

[00:03:46] So starting off first with Dan Bayer.

[00:03:47] Dan what did you think of The Kids Are All Right?

[00:03:51] I remember seeing this in 2010 and liking it not loving it but was very much here

[00:03:59] for all the critical love and awards love that it got at the end of the year.

[00:04:06] Watching it now it is the most 2010 movie that I can think of.

[00:04:13] Right?

[00:04:14] Yeah.

[00:04:15] Like very specifically 2010.

[00:04:19] It's really kind of amazing it fully took me right back to the first Obama term and

[00:04:26] you know this feeling of wide open spaces and futures for this country and for all

[00:04:37] the people in it and this kind of almost utopian world where it is about queer people

[00:04:50] and their queerness is important to the story but it's not necessarily a queer story

[00:04:58] specifically.

[00:05:00] The fact that Nick and Jules the characters played by Nat Benning and Julianne Moore

[00:05:06] in this are lesbians is inextricable from the story but it's not about them being

[00:05:13] lesbians it's about them being parents and that strangely still kind of feels a little

[00:05:21] radical although less radical than it did at the time.

[00:05:26] What hasn't aged quite as well is Benning and Moore's casting especially since the

[00:05:35] movie does not wait very long to call out the fact that so often in movies they just

[00:05:41] end up casting straight actresses in the roles of lesbians and the inauthenticity

[00:05:49] just radiates off the screen but of course they're not talking about narrative feature

[00:05:54] films but even still.

[00:05:57] To call that out in that way just felt really kind of strange while watching it

[00:06:03] especially since they're both really great in the movie however frustrating the characters

[00:06:11] are the actresses are not.

[00:06:14] They have these characters pretty pegged and they deliver two of I think their best

[00:06:21] performances in this movie but neither of them are giving the best performance in

[00:06:27] the movie which as nearly in every movie he's in it's Mark Ruffalo who is just.

[00:06:36] Contain yourself sir.

[00:06:37] Look he is the world's nicest fuck boy but he is still a fuck boy and I still

[00:06:42] absolutely would this is the sexiest he has ever been in a movie and I kind of love it.

[00:06:52] What really speaks to me most about this movie is the sense of naturalism

[00:06:56] from all of the performances this really feel like real people who are seeing reacting to

[00:07:02] things in the moment in all the messiness that that usually entails and I don't think

[00:07:10] that that always makes for the most narratively pleasing outcomes but it does mean that it

[00:07:20] does feel like a slice of life a lot more so than most movies do and I do think it

[00:07:27] still has value even if I'm not quite as high on it now as I was back in 2010.

[00:07:34] Okay all right pretty much the answer I expected to hear let's go over to our guest

[00:07:41] though see what he thinks Jack what did you think of The Kids Are Alright?

[00:07:46] Yeah I have a very personal connection to this film I believe I saw it for the first time in

[00:07:52] 2012 I was not old enough to have seen it when it first came out in theaters but I went back

[00:07:58] and I watched it because I was a huge Hunger Games fan and I think Josh Hutcherson might

[00:08:04] have been the first male crush I had when he was in the Hunger Games films so I had

[00:08:09] gone back and I had watched a lot of his earlier movies and this one really stayed with

[00:08:14] me. I'm adopted and I don't know my biological parents nor do I really have that desire to but

[00:08:21] I do have siblings that I am biologically related to that I was not raised with and about a year

[00:08:29] after I watched this movie I actually made a connection to them via Facebook and we've been

[00:08:37] off and on contact ever since and so I really relate to the sense of discovering where you came

[00:08:45] from discovering what makes you you that a lot of the two kids Josh Hutcherson and Mia's

[00:08:52] characters go through specifically in the first act of this movie found that really a truthful

[00:08:59] truthful portrayal of what that sense is like I really saw myself in those characters because

[00:09:07] I was actually just about a year younger than what Josh Hutcherson's character is playing and

[00:09:12] so when they go to meet Mark Ruffalo for the first time that sense of anxiety about who is

[00:09:18] this person going to be and also that sense of walking away from it as Josh Hutcherson's

[00:09:22] character does and kind of not having your expectations met that was something that I

[00:09:28] really related to with my siblings and whatnot so this film really does have a very big

[00:09:33] spot in my heart even if it isn't perfect as you said Matt it is also one of the first films

[00:09:39] that I as a closeted teenager saw that had prominent gay characters in it where the queerness

[00:09:47] of their characters was not a main focal point it was something that really resonated with me

[00:09:53] and watching it again all these years later I do agree it is a little bit

[00:09:58] dated and they're casting Annette Benning and Julianne Moores they're casting I would hope

[00:10:04] that if this were made today we would have two out lesbian actresses playing this role

[00:10:11] but that being said I still really found myself all the way back to when I first watched this

[00:10:16] film and really just resonating specifically with the two children in the film and really

[00:10:21] resonating with their journey in the film so it's not perfect but I really do like it all

[00:10:27] these years later still okay all right and thank you for sharing that too yeah absolutely

[00:10:32] really really appreciate that Josh how about yourself to all of our listeners of the next

[00:10:37] best picture podcast we know you love movies we do too do you like going to the theater

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[00:11:35] slash limited and you can tell them next best picture set you with the promo code

[00:11:41] slash regal nbp 24 that's slash regal nbp 24. So I remember back in 2010 first seeing this movie

[00:11:53] and just being in love with it it was absolutely one of my favorites of the year was on my top

[00:11:58] 10 I thought it was just this really great examination of these characters and in the

[00:12:04] setting that yeah in the context of 2010 really hadn't been showcased to a mainstream audience

[00:12:10] before and it felt really fresh and exciting to get that and to also get all of these really

[00:12:16] great performances and I just adored the movie but it is a movie I have not seen since

[00:12:22] it came out it's been a very very long time and I have to admit a part of that

[00:12:27] it was a little bit of fear because this is definitely one of those movies where

[00:12:31] you kind of wonder how it holds up and if it still feels as relevant as it did as it did back then

[00:12:38] and finally coming back to it after all that time I do have to admit that my feelings on

[00:12:46] it have cooled dramatically. I do think that there are still a lot of really good things

[00:12:51] about this movie I do like the characters for the most part I do really still like these

[00:12:57] performances but it is definitely a movie that as Dan said is very 2010 and I think

[00:13:06] what I really noticed this go around is that I can understand why this did very well during

[00:13:11] the time it came out and during the award season because I think some of its examinations

[00:13:15] that it chooses to look at are kind of delivered rather broadly and you know that I have a

[00:13:21] little bit of a resistance to that when it comes to storytelling. I do think this movie lacks

[00:13:25] a little bit of nuance in terms of what these characters are going through. I think in some

[00:13:30] parts it does get to some complexities I do appreciate that but I think in particularly

[00:13:35] with the Jules character like there's a big word that the movie just refuses to say and

[00:13:41] I don't know why it doesn't just come out and say bisexual. Thank you thank you.

[00:13:47] So many things about this movie would be at least we would get to the cause root of it if

[00:13:52] the movie just said that word and it doesn't and it feels very 2010.

[00:13:56] There is a place in the script where she could have said it and pointedly does not.

[00:14:03] Yeah so there's a lot of stuff like that in this film where I feel as if it does not use

[00:14:09] the tools necessary to make this a richer more complex character study and I did find that to

[00:14:16] be very frustrating this go around but as I said I still like these performances.

[00:14:22] I still like the general kind of environment that they're examining and I do appreciate and

[00:14:28] you know as I said given the context of when this movie came out and I do

[00:14:33] take that into account it's not as strong as I thought it was for sure but it's not a

[00:14:40] terrible movie. I would still lean positive on it given all of those faults that I do

[00:14:44] find within it but it is definitely not a movie that I think has aged well in terms of its

[00:14:51] characterization even though there are good elements that I can appreciate within it still.

[00:14:57] So I remember seeing this with my sister and my two parents in the theater

[00:15:04] and I remember thinking to myself my parents probably think this is a different movie than

[00:15:10] what they're walking into. I of course knew what kind of movie it was because I had been following

[00:15:16] this since its premiere at Sundance and I had read you know reviews on it and seen people

[00:15:21] talking about it but I don't think my parents knew exactly what they were getting themselves

[00:15:26] into when they watched this movie and what I mean by that is not so much the content of oh

[00:15:31] lesbians like I don't think that that was the turnoff for them this was just not their

[00:15:37] movie in general it was the kind of thing where it just lacked excitement for them

[00:15:41] they didn't like how it resolved itself by the end they felt like nothing really happened

[00:15:47] and so when I got out of this movie in 2010 I liked it and I was like all those were great

[00:15:53] performances and I was like kind of buzzing and then I remember the car ride home and

[00:15:57] my parents just being like well that was terrible oh so that has just always stayed

[00:16:03] with me since 2010 and I have never gone back and re-watched this film since then

[00:16:09] so in revisiting it for this retrospective I've kind of always had this feeling in my mind of oh

[00:16:16] god as I get older am I too going to look at this movie and not appreciate it as much

[00:16:22] as I did when I was 20 years old and the answer is yes but for different reasons and

[00:16:28] they're pretty much the same reasons that you all laid out here I do think that it plays

[00:16:34] itself way too broadly I agree with what Dan said in the intro too this could be about a

[00:16:39] straight couple and nothing would change like and and yet Josh is right too but that was also

[00:16:46] part of the appeal in 2010 and kind of like what I was saying earlier too that in a way

[00:16:52] I think mainstream media to ease into being more accepting of gay stories in a way that

[00:17:03] now we see television shows being made about them and like it's everywhere you know so it

[00:17:09] wasn't like such a it's not such a rarity as it felt like it was back in 2010 especially on

[00:17:15] this level like I said I do agree that you know casting aside the performances are still good

[00:17:23] from everybody across the board in this movie even the kids and I do think that this movie

[00:17:29] is getting at something many many times that is actually really interesting very very interesting

[00:17:36] there are so many times where I feel like the script is so so close to unearthing something

[00:17:41] with a level of thematic complexity but then it just doesn't choose to confront it and actually

[00:17:48] go there with it and it ends up becoming more frustrating for me in the end and I have to say

[00:17:54] all these years later I do agree with one criticism that my parents said that I remembered

[00:18:00] back in 2010 that I agree with today I think this movie resolves itself way too neatly for

[00:18:08] such a messy situation that it causes so in a way I think this movie lacks a bit of grit

[00:18:17] to follow through with its own premise that it has set up here I know that this is like

[00:18:21] taken from elements of Lisa's life I understand that personal aspect to it and I do get that

[00:18:29] but at the same time I think that's why I give it a pass for the criticism of this could

[00:18:37] be about a gay male couple this could be about a straight couple like like why does it have to

[00:18:42] be lesbians when it's not even technically a factor of the plot of the movie so much

[00:18:50] but if she's drawn from her own personal life in that regard then it's like who are we to

[00:18:53] say right so I give a little bit of leeway there but overall I think it's a fine film

[00:19:00] I don't think it's a great movie especially by the standards and other stories that we've seen

[00:19:06] from today yeah I mean that ending yeah I had my note that I took was like it's a sitcom ending

[00:19:16] it really felt like a storyline that we would have gotten to where there's a little bit of

[00:19:19] conflict but then at the end everything is kind of resolved and it's like I want some messiness

[00:19:26] here like I can be left with a note of optimism I'm totally fine with that but you

[00:19:32] know these people's lives are drastically altered from where they were before and it does feel a

[00:19:38] little bit like everything has been somewhat reset and I found that to be just within the

[00:19:45] realms of the story that they were telling to be pretty inauthentic I did not really think that

[00:19:50] where those characters ended up at the very end of this movie made much sense to me

[00:19:55] hey everyone sorry to interrupt but this is a preview of our review of the 2010 film the

[00:20:00] kids are all right here on the next best picture podcast in order to get the nearly two

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