Finally, LGBT families are properly represented in the genre of mundane, mainstream dramedies. Truly a milestone.
Mehhhhhhhhhhh. Cholodenko just seems to be trying too hard to make everything so gosh-darned "genuine" that it backfires and feels very manufactured to me. I can't really point to any particular thing and say "this was awful" or "this was phony" and there were a few nice moments, but on the whole I simply didn't connect with the film very much. Maybe I'm just fed up with modern, progressive, earnest domestic dramas... or as I call them, "Sundance bait."
(2nd viewing) Will probably cause a bipolar reaction. At first, it felt like an outcry over social acceptance of same sex marriage, masquerading as a family dramedy, the latter coming through more on a 2nd viewing. Completely agree with Ytadel about the characters being hard to connect to, whether it's Bening's general unpleasant nature or Moore's infidelity. Add the atrocious camerawork and erratic editing and you've got an anoying movie. The kids on the other hand befit the film's title.
Thought it was extremely well written and honest. Not everything that the characters do is pretty, but the characters seem like real people. That's refreshing because too often in a movie like this characters are written just for some drama, whereas in this it's, yes, more organic. Even though some of the movie is conventional, it is handled so much better than most movies of this type. Moore is amazing yet again. It's not really a comedy... it does drama better.
100% certified bullshit. There are 0 laughs and it relies on nothing more than smug *political correctness* to carry it through to the finish in order to cover up the plot, writing, and acting. The characters are also the most unlikable group of assholes you'll ever see it a movie - Ruffalo being the single exception. More than anything, this just feels insulting to homosexuals.