MaestroReviews

Deb and I are artists, painters actually. We go see films as often as once a week. That's right, we go to the theater and sit in a dark room with strangers to see movies. We rarely rent. We like "little" movies, foreign and documentary films. We try to stay away from mainstream and blockbusters whenever possible, but a couple sneak in each year. We seek out the obscure. We try to avoid violent movies, and that really limits our choices, most film makers seem to think violence makes a story interesting.
I try not to give anything away in the reviews, but offer an honest reaction.
We rate them 1~10, 10 being highest.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

The Kids Are All Right

Deb 7 Me 4

First off, I have a problem with big budget movies that can’t think of anything more original than the name of a rock song to use as a title. Millions of dollars, focus groups, market research and the best they can come up with is a title that's already been used. And the name seemed to have little if anything to do with the movie. It’s a sure sign that this is a mainstream movie destined to annoy anyone regardless of their demographic.

The film centers around a lesbian couple who has raised two nice kids. You’d think their sexual preference would be a plot point, difficulties they might face socially, issues their kids might deal with, something with some meat to it. But no, it’s just someone’s idea of a new twist to an otherwise bland story. The kids are curious about their sperm donor father (even though they are three years apart each of them share the same donor) and that’s where the interest is focused. You’d think that could be made interesting, and it could, but they didn’t.

The humor comes from potty mouths. The audience is surprised when the actors use the “f” word or make some other sexual reference and that’s where the bulk of the laughs seem to come from.

The art director did a great job. There is some very interesting use of color in places and the art director probably had a good time too. The actors were fine, although the fifteen year old looked more like twenty. It was filmed in LA. It had to be in LA, NY or San Francisco, there doesn’t seem to be a lesbian population in middle America, only tomboys.

I got the feeling all throughout the movie that there was a very good screenplay at some point and it got lost in the Hollywood formula that serves the masses. This movie is the reason I try to stay away from middle of the road mainstream films. It’s just a waste of valuable time. On the redemption side, everyone here is a total basket case, but the kids are alright.

Oddly Deb gave it a 7 although she had very little good to say about it. I figure mainstream movies shoot for a 5, it’s the best they can do, and this one fell short to a 4.
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