The Kids Are All Right (Lisa Cholodenko)

This fine film certainly marks the mainstreaming of the "two-mommies" phenomenon--not because it features a family with two mommies (as well as a daughter, a son, and a sperm donor), but because the adult characters are flawed enough to be mildly irritating. For example, Nic (Annette Bening) the alpha-female in this pair may be a feminist lesbian, yet she still repeatedly refers possessively, even patriarchally, to the family as "my family" and to her right to determine how its individual members behave. Jules (Julianne Moore) can be as annoyingly impractical as the worst stereotypical suburban housewife, and Paul (Mark Ruffalo) remains stupefyingly self-centered. Nevertheless, the film works because all the characters are earnest in their attempts to work out problems common to all families, as well as those limited to gay families.

Recommend.