…But the parents aren’t. Married lovers Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) have to come to terms with the fact that their about-to-go-to-college daughter, Joni (Mia Wasikowska), has just located the sperm donor who unknowingly fathered both her and her younger brother, Laser (Josh Hutcherson). Enter Paul (Mark Ruffalo), a laid-back, sexy restaurateur who can do no wrong at first – and then proves himself fully capable of rocking the whole family’s super-secure world. With so much controversy out there about gay marriage, it’s entertaining to watch a gay family operate much as straight ones do – except with more amusing dialogue: The kids say things like, “I’m telling moms!” Director and co-writer Lisa Cholodenko, who previously directed a brilliant film called High Art and more recently Laurel Canyon, has made a movie with perfect pitch. And maybe that’s partly because she too has been one half of a gay couple relying on a sperm donor. But it’s also because her casting is impeccable. Bening is the most incredible actress on the earth. Forget that she’s married to Warren Beatty, or that she was the sexiest of femmes fatales in Bugsy, or that her portrayal of a jaded wife in American Beauty was utterly chilling – Bening can illuminate a rectangular screen with the poised confidence of a goddess while at the same time revealing the quivering vulnerability inside her soul. In Kids, she struggles to keep the family unit intact, but it’s her flaws that make her amusing to watch. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Julianne Moore, an actress I’ve never quite understood and could barely stand. Until now. This is the best role ever for Moore, who plays an up-talking hippie, soft and flighty in her Zen garden as she tries out a career in landscape design. As we watch her blossom among her shrubs and flowers, she’s transparently feeling things she’s never felt before – girlish, giddy and understood. Ruffalo too, has never quite had a place in Hollywood, floating through many films until this performance… which is Oscar-worthy, not for over-the-top Acting but for conveying something simple, flaky, awkward and deeply decent. In the end, the movie is original and refreshingly funny without forcing comedy on us. And it neatly delivers its message: that all marriages are hard work, no matter the players. One of the few to earn four tiaras this year, and, for my money, this year’s second Oscar contender (The Ghost Writer was the first.) Four tiaras
