Hello, Welcome to Moviephone…

We saw two films last weekend, The Kids Are All Right and Salt.  Both were good, but I would say that I really, really enjoyed Kids, while Salt was more one of those movies where you come out saying, “OK, totally unbelievable in every conceivable way, but fun”.

The Kids Are All Right is the story of Nic and Jules (Annette Bening and Julianne Moore), a long term lesbian couple who had two children, who are now coming of age.  They each carried one child, and both used the same sperm-doner, Paul (Mark Ruffalo).  Their daughter, Joni (Mia Wasikowska) has recently turned 18, and their 15 year old son Laser (Josh Hutcherson) begs her to use her newly adult status to contact the man who made them possible.  She’s not really interested, but he is, very much so.  They meet Paul at his restaurant, and their reactions are very different.  Joni is in love, she sees aspects of herself in him, and is besotted by the idea of him…perhaps…maybe…a father.   Laser, the one who really wanted to meet Paul, isn’t as easily impressed, and his first impression is that he’s been there, met him, time to move on.  Next, of course, Nic and Jules find out, and they also want to meet Paul, though they are more reticent about the idea.  They all come together, and the family is thrown into a tailspin.

What I loved about this movie was the very real writing, the way the married couple were very unglamorous and just married, with everyday problems.  Of course, in this particular stage of their marriage, they’re going through a bit of trouble, with Nic the perfectionist doctor and Jules the hippy-ish aspiring landscaper trying to find their ways in middle age.  They’re feeling distance and confusion in their marriage, which leaves room for trouble with the arrival of Paul.  The writing and acting (especially Bening, who was perfect), was amazing.  Ruffalo is pitch perfect as Paul, too…thinking of himself as just an easy-going guy, with an easy-going Berkeley attitude toward women, love, and families…but deep down, his motives and assumptions come into question.

I really understood Joni.  As a woman who met her father at the age of 21, I totally understand how you can fall in love with the idea of this person you’ve never known, and really haven’t missed before.  I remember those early days of my relationship with my dad and sisters, and how giddy it all was.  Like a parent who has just had a baby, and fallen in love with it, and wants to talk about it with everyone.  Like that.

I really liked this film.  We went with Dorothy and John, and on a scale of 1 – 4, I gave it a 4.  Everyone else gave it a minimum of 3, more like a 3.5.  Really, really good.  Warning, though, it’s rated R, and I would say a hard-R.  If you don’t want to watch (edited) gay porn or see some pretty risque sex scenes with your child/parent/boss/whatever, see something else.

Salt is the story of Evelyn Salt, a CIA agent who may, or may not, be a sleeper agent waiting to do damage for Russia.  That’s pretty much my whole review.  She runs around, trying to save her husband.  She runs from the CIA, who have decided one thing about her, and are trying to stop her.  She looks great, even when she dyes her hair black in a way that anyone who has ever dyed their hair knows would look like crap.  Was it good?  Not really.  Did it suck?  Not at all.  It was fun.  I enjoyed watching the situation unfold, and trying to figure out where her real loyalties lie.  My favorite part was that Ms. Salt ditches her high heels about 30 hot seconds into the chase scenes, which ALWAYS bugs the crap out of me…women running around like crazy in painful shoes that would kill a lesser human.  It was kinda interesting to read that the part was originally written for Tom Cruise, but seemed too close to Mission, Impossible (or perhaps The Bourne Identity), so it was revised for Jolie.  Kinda cool.   On a scale of 1 – 4?  2.5.  It was fun.  I probably wouldn’t see it again.

I would totally see The Kids Are All Right again.  Totally.