it's good I guess. maybe too carefully designed (perfectly planted subtexts with some unconvincing ambiguity for sophistication's sake). the perfect 'alternative' upper-middle class white people story -- a lot of heart, not so much soul. I shouldn't be able to identify every cool indie song...actually, every cultural reference fell well within the target audience's lexicon. I wish I had had to google something.
so it's super current and stuff. probably the closest thing 2010 has to its own artifact of our model self portrait, sorta like a more satisfied take on Sirk. you may feel like a better person for watching this.

You have made this movie sound completely, utterly awful. I trust your taste, so I'm confused how the first sentence and the rest of the post fit together.

no its quite good

Yeah I seriously loved this movie. And yOsHuEwoahhh liked it too! What does this mean

it's good, but I like to complain.

I liked it though. And I had fun watching it. It was just lacking in....I dunno....fringe benefits?

It is modest: a few days in the life... The affair between Paul and Jules did not convince me. 6,5/10.

The Kids Are All Right is a great film with some strong performances across the board. Annette Benning and Julianne Morre work well together here. Their chemistry on screen does feel real instead of just acted out which helps the realism of this film. Mia Wasikowska stands out a good bit and actually her character could have been used a bit more in the film but is pushed a bit too much to the side. The same can be said for Josh Hutcherson who seems to just come in and out of the picture. Mark Ruffalo also pulls off some good acting chops here and even though his character isn't given a full ending, he is still fairly enjoyable on screen. The film does run pretty smoothly and the arguments that can come about actually work and make the message stronger rather than being a drag. The ending as well is a good strong message on the commitment of family and that gets a nice smile. ***1/2

Glad you enjoyed it. I love the ending.

The best dramedy since Little Miss Sunshine and the best film about family issues in recent years. It never failed to bore for a minute because I actually felt for the characters and my interest of what's gonna happen to them situation after situation was always there. This also probably has the best combined performances than any film this year. Moore and Bening were excellent but Wasikowska tops them all. The close-up shot of Bening's face further into the dinner scene was amazing.

A-

Agree with the comments that it has a lot of warmth and life and charm. Great drama, elevated by the acting and writing. Glad it wasn't too self conscience indie.

Think this is Ruffalo's career best. That's not saying a ton, but he was perfect for this.

Definite top 10 of the year material

Meh.

Finally saw this, and was underwhelmed. While the acting was great, I just really didn't care too much about the characters or the story to keep paying attention.

Enh, I didn't have as much disdain as Magnus but I was certainly underwhelmed. For starters, where was the humor of this thing? I thought it was gonna be a nice indie rom-com, but it wasn't funny. Like at all. There were a few humorous lines that could have induced a laugh if they weren't uttered in very serious conditions. To its credit this is not the prepostorous overpowering melodrama of precious or something like that, but it was a far more heavy hearted flick than I was expecting. Not that that's inherently negative of course, and frankly the drama worked in its unassuming fairly realistic fashion.
But the thing was so damn cut and dry. A few twists and turns to make digestible, humanistic, well-rounded characters. A balance of tension and catharsis that creates the same emotions in the audience. Yes it all fulfills pretty standard outlines of appropriate indie drama with very little focus on the gay aspect it was supposedly addressing, but it just felt far too simple and effortless. The directing and writing told the straight-forward story effectively but where are the bonuses? Where's the flourishes of humor or directorial techniques that make me feel rewarded or like I'm seeing something unique or special? They don't exist in this movie, sadly, just a very standard unambitious product that has been way over-hyped.

Instead of writing all that I could have just picked pieces from other users reviews I guess. Snack is completely right about it being too carefully and meticously designed and Argos comment that the affair was unconvincing is also very true. All-together it was not a poor film by any means I just feel very... unsatisfied somehow.

Michael A--have you seen any of Nicole Holofcener's films? Do you like her 'style' generally?

I have not.

Oh, you should consider seeing one or two of them. Maybe Please Give.

I'd actually be genuinely interested to see if you enjoyed them more (or maybe less) than The Kids Are All Right.