The Kids Are All Right (film)
Encyclopedia
The Kids Are All Right is a 2010 American comedy-drama film directed by Lisa Cholodenko
and written by Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg.
One of Sundance 2010's breakout hits, it opened in limited release
on July 9, 2010, expanding to more theaters on July 30, 2010. It was released on DVD
and Blu-ray
on November 16, 2010. The film was awarded the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, and Annette Bening was awarded the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The film also received four Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture
, at the 83rd Academy Awards
.
) and Jules (Julianne Moore
) are a married lesbian couple living in California. They have each given birth to a child using the same sperm donor
. Nic, an obstetrician, is the primary breadwinner and the stricter parent, while Jules, a housewife who is starting up a landscape design business, is more laid back.
The younger child Laser (Josh Hutcherson
) wants to find his sperm donor but has to be 18 to do so. He begs his 18-year-old sister Joni (Mia Wasikowska
) to contact the sperm bank
and determines that Paul (Mark Ruffalo
) is the donor. The three meet. Joni is impressed by his bohemian lifestyle, and Paul is enthusiastic about being in their lives. Joni swears Laser to secrecy as she does not want to upset their mothers. However, Jules and Nic find out and invite Paul over to dinner. When Jules reveals she has a landscape business, Paul asks her to landscape his back garden. Jules agrees, although Nic does not like the idea.
While working for Paul, Jules likes that he appreciates her work in contrast to Nic who, Jules feels, never supported her career. Jules impulsively kisses Paul one afternoon, and they end up in bed together, beginning an affair.
Jules and the kids start spending more time with Paul. Nic believes Paul undermines her authority over the children, for example, by giving Joni a ride on his motorcycle, which Nic has forbidden, and suggesting she give Joni more freedom. After a heated argument with Jules, Nic suggests they all have dinner at Paul's house to ease the tension. Nic relaxes and makes a connection with Paul over their mutual love for Joni Mitchell
. However, Nic discovers traces of Jules's hair in Paul's bathroom and bedroom. When they return home, Nic confronts Jules. At first, Jules denies it but then admits to the affair. Nic is devastated, but Jules insists she is not in love with Paul and has not turned straight; she just wanted to be appreciated. The household becomes very tense with Jules sleeping on the couch. The children are angry at Jules and Paul. Paul thinks he has fallen for Jules and suggests she leave Nic, bring the kids, and come live with him. Jules declines, disgusted with Paul's lack of understanding about their relationship.
The night before Joni leaves home to go to college, Paul turns up at the house. Nic angrily confronts him, calling him an interloper, and tells him that if he wants a family, he should make one of his own. Rejected, Paul watches the kids from outside through the window, trying to get their attention, but they, too, turn away. Later that night, Jules tearfully admits her errors to her family and begs their forgiveness. The next morning, the family takes Joni off to college. While Nic and Jules together hug Joni to say goodbye, they also affectionately touch each other. During the ride home, Laser tells his mothers that they should not break up because they are too old. Jules and Nic giggle, and the film ends with them smiling at each other and holding hands.
and Blumberg began outlining the script in late 2004, based in part on some aspects of her life. The project was helped to get off the ground by the caliber of actors who agreed to join, first Julianne Moore
, followed by Mark Ruffalo
and Annette Bening
. Cholodenko stated, "People really admired what Stuart [Blumberg] and I got on the page but there was a fear factor regarding how the film was going to make money, as the subject matter is tricky." The film nearly got the green light in 2006, but Cholodenko postponed the project after she became pregnant by way of an anonymous sperm donor. After giving birth, she resumed work on the film and won financing from three major investors, including the French distributor UGC.
Principal photography
was completed in 23 days in Los Angeles
in July 2009. The film was made for approximately $4 million. The filmmakers rushed to finish the post-production in time for the Sundance Film Festival
, where it was admitted after the deadline for competitive entries. On January 25, 2010 the film had its premiere, becoming one of the festival's breakout hits. A few days later, Focus Features
acquired the distribution rights for $4.8 million. At the 60th Berlinale
the film won a Teddy Award
. The film closed the 2010 Sydney Film Festival
and opened the Los Angeles Film Festival
.
reports that 94% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 204 reviews. The site's consensus is that "Worthwhile as both a well-acted dramedy and as a smart, warm statement on family values, The Kids Are All Right is remarkable." Metacritic
, which assigns a weighted average score out of 1–100 reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 86 based on 38 reviews, with the film in the "universal acclaim" category. The film appeared on 39 critics' top ten movie lists for the year 2010. Anthony Quinn of The Independent
and Elizabeth Weitzman of the Daily News both listed it as the best film of the year, while four other critics picked it as the second best movie of the year.
Annette Bening won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and the film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. Nominations were also given to Julianne Moore for Best Actress and Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg for Best Screenplay. Moore and Bening were both nominated for the BAFTA for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Mark Ruffalo was nominated for the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor. Cholodenko and Blumberg were also nominees for Best Original Screenplay. The film was nominated for Best Picture at the 83rd Academy Awards
. Bening and Ruffalo were nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor respectively. Cholodenko and Blumberg were also nominated for Best Original Screenplay.
at seven theaters, The Kids Are All Right grossed $491,971 in its first weekend. At $70,282 per theater, the film scored the highest average gross in the year to date. It expanded to 38 theaters on July 16, then 201 on July 23, and finally 847 on July 30. , the film grossed a total of $34,705,850 worldwide.
Lisa Cholodenko
Lisa Cholodenko is an American film and television writer/director. She is best known for her highly acclaimed 2010 comedy-drama The Kids Are All Right which was nominated for a number of awards including four Academy Awards, Best Picture among them.- Career :Having grown up in a Jewish family ,...
and written by Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg.
One of Sundance 2010's breakout hits, it opened in limited release
Limited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....
on July 9, 2010, expanding to more theaters on July 30, 2010. It was released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and Blu-ray
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
on November 16, 2010. The film was awarded the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, and Annette Bening was awarded the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. The film also received four Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
, at the 83rd Academy Awards
83rd Academy Awards
The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2010 and took place February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, Academy Awards ...
.
Plot
Nic (Annette BeningAnnette Bening
Annette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
) and Jules (Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore is an American actress and a children's book author. Throughout her career, she has been nominated for four Oscars, six Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and nine Screen Actors Guild Awards....
) are a married lesbian couple living in California. They have each given birth to a child using the same sperm donor
Sperm donation
Sperm donation is the provision by a man, , of his sperm, with the intention that it be used to impregnate a woman who is not usually the man's sexual partner, in order to produce a child....
. Nic, an obstetrician, is the primary breadwinner and the stricter parent, while Jules, a housewife who is starting up a landscape design business, is more laid back.
The younger child Laser (Josh Hutcherson
Josh Hutcherson
Joshua Ryan "Josh" Hutcherson is an American film and television actor. He began working in the early 2000s, appearing in several minor film and television roles...
) wants to find his sperm donor but has to be 18 to do so. He begs his 18-year-old sister Joni (Mia Wasikowska
Mia Wasikowska
Mia Wasikowska is an Australian actress. After starting her career in Australian television and film, she first became known to a wider audience following her critically acclaimed work on the HBO television series In Treatment...
) to contact the sperm bank
Sperm bank
A sperm bank, semen bank or cryobank is a facility that collects and stores human sperm mainly from sperm donors, primarily for the purpose of achieving pregnancies through third party reproduction, notably by artificial insemination...
and determines that Paul (Mark Ruffalo
Mark Ruffalo
Mark Alan Ruffalo is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He starred in films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Zodiac, Shutter Island, Just Like Heaven, You Can Count on Me and The Kids Are All Right for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best...
) is the donor. The three meet. Joni is impressed by his bohemian lifestyle, and Paul is enthusiastic about being in their lives. Joni swears Laser to secrecy as she does not want to upset their mothers. However, Jules and Nic find out and invite Paul over to dinner. When Jules reveals she has a landscape business, Paul asks her to landscape his back garden. Jules agrees, although Nic does not like the idea.
While working for Paul, Jules likes that he appreciates her work in contrast to Nic who, Jules feels, never supported her career. Jules impulsively kisses Paul one afternoon, and they end up in bed together, beginning an affair.
Jules and the kids start spending more time with Paul. Nic believes Paul undermines her authority over the children, for example, by giving Joni a ride on his motorcycle, which Nic has forbidden, and suggesting she give Joni more freedom. After a heated argument with Jules, Nic suggests they all have dinner at Paul's house to ease the tension. Nic relaxes and makes a connection with Paul over their mutual love for Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
. However, Nic discovers traces of Jules's hair in Paul's bathroom and bedroom. When they return home, Nic confronts Jules. At first, Jules denies it but then admits to the affair. Nic is devastated, but Jules insists she is not in love with Paul and has not turned straight; she just wanted to be appreciated. The household becomes very tense with Jules sleeping on the couch. The children are angry at Jules and Paul. Paul thinks he has fallen for Jules and suggests she leave Nic, bring the kids, and come live with him. Jules declines, disgusted with Paul's lack of understanding about their relationship.
The night before Joni leaves home to go to college, Paul turns up at the house. Nic angrily confronts him, calling him an interloper, and tells him that if he wants a family, he should make one of his own. Rejected, Paul watches the kids from outside through the window, trying to get their attention, but they, too, turn away. Later that night, Jules tearfully admits her errors to her family and begs their forgiveness. The next morning, the family takes Joni off to college. While Nic and Jules together hug Joni to say goodbye, they also affectionately touch each other. During the ride home, Laser tells his mothers that they should not break up because they are too old. Jules and Nic giggle, and the film ends with them smiling at each other and holding hands.
Cast
- Annette BeningAnnette BeningAnnette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
as Dr. Nicole 'Nic' Allgood, an OB/GYNObstetrics and gynaecologyObstetrics and gynaecology are the two surgical–medical specialties dealing with the female reproductive organs in their pregnant and non-pregnant state, respectively, and as such are often combined to form a single medical specialty and postgraduate training programme...
specialist. She is hurt when the children decide to bring Paul into their lives, and worried that he will disrupt the family dynamic; she is Joni's biological mother. - Julianne MooreJulianne MooreJulianne Moore is an American actress and a children's book author. Throughout her career, she has been nominated for four Oscars, six Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and nine Screen Actors Guild Awards....
as Jules Allgood, who has never had a career but is interested in starting a landscape design business; she is Laser's biological mother - Mark RuffaloMark RuffaloMark Alan Ruffalo is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He starred in films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Zodiac, Shutter Island, Just Like Heaven, You Can Count on Me and The Kids Are All Right for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best...
as Paul Hatfield, the owner of an organic foodOrganic foodOrganic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.For the...
s restaurant who likes women, but also likes his freedom. He was the anonymous sperm donor for both children. - Mia WasikowskaMia WasikowskaMia Wasikowska is an Australian actress. After starting her career in Australian television and film, she first became known to a wider audience following her critically acclaimed work on the HBO television series In Treatment...
as Joni Allgood, who has recently turned 18 and is set to leave for college. - Josh HutchersonJosh HutchersonJoshua Ryan "Josh" Hutcherson is an American film and television actor. He began working in the early 2000s, appearing in several minor film and television roles...
as Laser Allgood, the 15-year-old son who asks Joni to help him meet their biological father. - Yaya DaCosta as Tanya, a friend and occasional lover of Paul's.
- Eddie Hassell as Clay, a friend of Laser; Nic and Jules think he's unstable.
- Zosia Mamet as Sasha, a friend of Joni.
- Kunal Sharma as Jai, a friend of Joni.
Production
Lisa CholodenkoLisa Cholodenko
Lisa Cholodenko is an American film and television writer/director. She is best known for her highly acclaimed 2010 comedy-drama The Kids Are All Right which was nominated for a number of awards including four Academy Awards, Best Picture among them.- Career :Having grown up in a Jewish family ,...
and Blumberg began outlining the script in late 2004, based in part on some aspects of her life. The project was helped to get off the ground by the caliber of actors who agreed to join, first Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore is an American actress and a children's book author. Throughout her career, she has been nominated for four Oscars, six Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and nine Screen Actors Guild Awards....
, followed by Mark Ruffalo
Mark Ruffalo
Mark Alan Ruffalo is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He starred in films such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Zodiac, Shutter Island, Just Like Heaven, You Can Count on Me and The Kids Are All Right for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best...
and Annette Bening
Annette Bening
Annette Carol Bening is an American actress. Bening is a four-time Oscar nominee for her roles in The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right, winning Golden Globe Awards for the latter two films...
. Cholodenko stated, "People really admired what Stuart [Blumberg] and I got on the page but there was a fear factor regarding how the film was going to make money, as the subject matter is tricky." The film nearly got the green light in 2006, but Cholodenko postponed the project after she became pregnant by way of an anonymous sperm donor. After giving birth, she resumed work on the film and won financing from three major investors, including the French distributor UGC.
Principal photography
Principal photography
thumb|300px|Film production on location in [[Newark, New Jersey]].Principal photography is the phase of film production in which the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production....
was completed in 23 days in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
in July 2009. The film was made for approximately $4 million. The filmmakers rushed to finish the post-production in time for the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
, where it was admitted after the deadline for competitive entries. On January 25, 2010 the film had its premiere, becoming one of the festival's breakout hits. A few days later, Focus Features
Focus Features
Focus Features is the art house films division of NBC Universal's Universal Pictures, and acts as both a producer and distributor for its own films and a distributor for foreign films....
acquired the distribution rights for $4.8 million. At the 60th Berlinale
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
the film won a Teddy Award
Teddy Award
The Teddy Award is an international film award for films with LGBT topics, presented by an independent jury as an official award of the Berlin International Film Festival . Here, an "independent jury" implies that its members are not officially selected by the committee of the Berlinale...
. The film closed the 2010 Sydney Film Festival
Sydney Film Festival
The Sydney Film Festival is an annual film festival held in the Australian city of Sydney and is held over 12 days in June. The competitive film festival draws international and local attention, with films being showcased in several venues across the city centre and includes features,...
and opened the Los Angeles Film Festival
Los Angeles Film Festival
The Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by the Los Angeles Times is an event held annually in June in downtown Los Angeles, California. The Los Angeles Film Festival began as the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 1995. The first LAIFF took place over the course of five days in a single...
.
Critical reception
The film was released to near universal acclaim. Review aggregator Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
reports that 94% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 204 reviews. The site's consensus is that "Worthwhile as both a well-acted dramedy and as a smart, warm statement on family values, The Kids Are All Right is remarkable." Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, which assigns a weighted average score out of 1–100 reviews from film critics, has a rating score of 86 based on 38 reviews, with the film in the "universal acclaim" category. The film appeared on 39 critics' top ten movie lists for the year 2010. Anthony Quinn of The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
and Elizabeth Weitzman of the Daily News both listed it as the best film of the year, while four other critics picked it as the second best movie of the year.
Annette Bening won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, and the film won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. Nominations were also given to Julianne Moore for Best Actress and Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg for Best Screenplay. Moore and Bening were both nominated for the BAFTA for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and Mark Ruffalo was nominated for the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor. Cholodenko and Blumberg were also nominees for Best Original Screenplay. The film was nominated for Best Picture at the 83rd Academy Awards
83rd Academy Awards
The 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , honored the best films of 2010 and took place February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. During the ceremony, Academy Awards ...
. Bening and Ruffalo were nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor respectively. Cholodenko and Blumberg were also nominated for Best Original Screenplay.
TV Series
On October 14th, 2011 it was reported that Lisa Cholodenko was in the process of creating a series based on the film for HBO.Box office performance
Opening in limited releaseLimited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....
at seven theaters, The Kids Are All Right grossed $491,971 in its first weekend. At $70,282 per theater, the film scored the highest average gross in the year to date. It expanded to 38 theaters on July 16, then 201 on July 23, and finally 847 on July 30. , the film grossed a total of $34,705,850 worldwide.