The Kids Are All Right. USA. Directed by Lisa Cholodenko. Screenplay by Cholodenko, Stuart Blumberg. With Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo. 106 min.
What makes a family? It’s a question that still seems to enrage much of America. If Lisa Cholodenko’s film had instead been a book it likely would have been pulled from Florida libraries by now. Such is the continued resonance of this beautifully modulated comedy about the arrival of a biological father in the lives of two children being raised by lesbian parents. Even at the time it wasn’t easy getting the film made, but come awards season, the casting of Julianne Moore and Annette Benning as the well-worn married couple and a shambolic Mark Ruffalo as the newcomer in their lives was all anyone could talk about. Laura Rosenthal was involved in the project from the very start, taking on the role of producer as well as casting director—as she has on many films since.