Starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo
Written by Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg
Directed by Lisa Cholodenko
USA 2010
107 mins

The Acton Film Club is 10 years old this year - to mark that we are showing a film from every year since we started in 2009. 'The Kids Are Alright' is a charming 2010 comedy about a same sex couple and their family living in Los Angeles.

Nic is an obstetrician and and Jules a landscape gardener who each conceived a child using the same anonymous sperm donor. Those children - Laser and Joni - are now teenagers and when one of them decides they want to know who their father is he and his sister track down the man - Paul - who they arrange to meet. This leads to Paul coming to their home and encountering Nic and Jules for the first time - at which point the complications begin...

'The Kids Are Alright' was the first mainstream film to feature a same sex couple as parents and is partly based on the experiences of the filmmaker Lisa Choldenko - who has herself used donor sperm to conceive. The leads are all excellent - in particular Annette Bening and Julianne Moore - two of the finest American actresses working today.

The script is deft - a smart exploration of the modern incarnation of a very traditional family situation.
'The Kids Are Alright' was on many critics top ten lists in the year it was made but perhaps perhaps because of its themes did not have the widest release. Don't miss this opportunity to see it.