Justin Markert
A bunch of stuff I like and think about.
-
It’s 1994. You’re 12 years old. Kevin Costner, Morgan Freeman, Christian Slater and Alan Rickman have recently gotten together and made your adolescent cinematic dreams come true. Not since Back to the Future, have you loved a film as much as this glorious masterpiece. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves has become your “Number One Favorite Movie Of All Time.” You love it so much that, not only do you buy the Bryan Adams classic album Waking Up the Neighbors because it has “Everything I Do (I Do it For You),” but you also get the action figure, the Nintendo game and the breakfast cereal. So it only makes sense that when you hear they’ve come out with a comedy parody called Robin Hood: Men in Tights that you go to the library and scour the new releases till you find it. You’re twelve so you still watch movies with your mom. The opening credits begin and it takes about 15 minutes before the first crude sex joke is made. You cringe. It’s awkward and embarrassing. Then the second….then the third and you realize you’re in for a very uncomfortable ride. I know I’m not alone when I say that there’s nothing like sitting with your mother watching a movie jam packed with sex jokes. Scratch that, yes there is, sitting in a packed theater watching the first ten minutes of the kids are all right surrounded by people in their late 60s.
I arrived at the Cedar Lee at around 6:50 because I know these pre-screenings fill up fast. The friend that was going to join me fell through so I was going it alone. I found my seat and started people watching. The place reached capacity very quickly. Not everyone in the theater was old. There were a lot of people in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. But in my general vicinity it was gray heads, six or seven deep all the way around. Like I said, it was packed, so no empty seats next to me. I felt wrinkly skin touching my forearms on both sides.
The film opens with a Vampire Weekend[1] song, as we see the feet of teens skateboarding and biking. Chaotic, jerky camera angles follow them around as they wreak havoc, knocking over garbage cans and snorting cocaine. This is first moment when I look around and imagine all of these people silently scorning “the kids today.” Within the next ten minutes we see different teens talking about sex, and two very awkward, very real sex scenes involving Mark Ruffalo and a coworker, and leads Annette Bening and Julianne Moore. Moore is “occupied” under the covers, while Bening watches a kitschy man-on-man construction worker DVD. Now’s the part where I tell you I was wrong. I was being an agist, and for that my friends I apologize. The seniors surrounding me we’re LOVING it. They couldn’t get enough of it. There was as much laughter in the theater as the time I saw Barbershop on its opening night at the Loehmann’s Plaza $1 theater.
“The Kids are All Right” is yet another movie named after a song by The Who that has nothing to do with the song by The Who. Annette Bening and Julianne Moore play Nic and Jules, an upper middle class couple who have two teenage children. Joni, played by Mia Wasikowska is 18, a recent high school grad on her way to college and Josh Hutcherson plays 16 year old Laser (yes Laser). They’re a normal enough family. Nic is a doctor. She’s the bread winner and clearly the more responsible of the two, while Jules is more fly by the seat of your pants. Her current small business of choice is landscape design, who knows what it will be next year.
The story begins when Joni turns 18. At her brothers urging, she decides to call the sperm bank to get information on who their biological father is. Enter Mark Ruffalo, who plays Paul, a very likeable[2], very laid back guy. He owns a restaurant and an organic garden, he rides a motorcycle and casually sleeps with his employees. The man doesn’t have a care in the world, so when the sperm donor company gives him a call out of the blue inquiring about releasing his info, he, without giving it much thought agrees. Paul casually calls up the kids and asks if they want to get together. From there, their lives entangle and things get messy.
The Kids Are All Right takes a turn for the weird when Jules and Paul get a little too intimate (I’m not ruining anything for you if you’ve seen the preview.) This rubbed me the wrong way for a few reasons. She cheats on her partner of at least 20 years like it’s nothing. I understand there have been a lot of tensions in their relationship recently, but show me a relationship that doesn’t have tension. And I also understand that it’s not a perfect world and people do cheat, all the time. But the way in which it happens here is just too light for me. People in the theater were laughing out loud at this and it’s not their fault, the moment was written and directed to be funny. I just felt like the severity of the situation was ignored. The other aspect that bothers me, and I’m sure it will bother those in the gay community as well, is that Jules cheats with a man. I’m sure the lesbian community will be up in arms about the hinted at notion that all any lesbian needs is a good man to set her straight.
Overall, The Kids Are All Right is a great film. It’s honest and smart and very funny. It’s funny without having to remind you over and over with broad gags and ridiculous setups. It’s just real. The cast is almost perfect. The chemistry between Bening and Moore is great. The chemistry between Ruffalo and everyone is great. Even the teens are knocking it out of the park. I’m not entirely comfortable with the way things conclude for Ruffalo’s character. Come to think of it, the things that I thought I didn’t like about the movie actually re-enforce why it’s so good. For example, the teenage boy barely reacts when getting news he should definitely be reacting to. But honestly, that’s how a teenage boy would react, with apathy, or at least a guarded façade of apathy. And while I’m unhappy with the way Ruffalo’s story arc concludes, in all actuality that’s how it would happen in real life.
The Kids are All Right is more than alright. It’s a mature, intelligent, modern, family tale for the ages. Go see it, but not with your grandmother.
[1] I hated on these guys for awhile. Didn’t want to jump on the Pitchfork bandwagon. Then I listened. They’re undeniably catchy. Seriously. Check out this video of them playing in a library at Columbia University to see what I mean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5ErKLUE6pQ
[2] When is Mark Ruffalo not likeable? Just Like Heaven was terrible but I still enjoyed it because he was in it. He was even likeable in Reservation Road where he hits a twelve year old with his car and drives away.
