Director: Lisa Cholodenko
Year Released: 2010
Rating: 2.5
... and they think they know about moral values. The offspring of a lesbian couple (Julianne Moore and Annette Bening) seek out their biological father, a sperm donor (Mark Ruffalo, channeling his character from You Can Count on Me), which angers the Moms. The performances are outstanding - particularly Bening, who picks and chooses her roles carefully - though the film neglects several of its subplots and turns free-wheeling, independent Ruffalo into the prime example of what 'not' to be as a 'man' (he eventually comes around to saying he wants a family, but it's half-hearted; he 'lures' Moore away and disrupts 'familial' harmony but it's just as much her doing). The sexual politics are a bit ... off, and I'm not sure what to make of Cholodenko's views on heterosexuality and homosexuality (hetero sex is loud and brash ... fleeting, unloving; the lesbians read and cuddle and take baths) and hints at the one boy's deviance without going exploring the character (he's fascinated with gay porn and wants to pee on a dog). The heart is there, but the rest is so, so evasive....
