I saw this movie this weekend with a group of friends. We all liked it. Quite funny, but also realistic to be a bit painful at points. We thought the acting was really great – quite believable characterizations.
Quick summary: Lesbian couple, both artificially inseminated with sperm from the same man, had a daughter & a son years ago. Kids are now teenagers (18 & 15), want to know about their father, sneak into moms files, get info, and contact their ‘sperm donor’/father. Comedy ensues.
Has anybody else seen this movie? What did you think?
Haven’t seen it. I did see the other movie with the same title, which was a documentary about The Who. I was disappointed that it didn’t contain the song that it was named after.
I saw it this weekend and found it highly enjoyable. Really excellent acting all around, but I particularly liked Mia Wasikowska… she played Alice in Tim Burton’s recent (IMO not particularly enjoyable) remake, but here, she’s really something. Especially towards the end of the movie, when they drop her off at school, I thought she was perfect.
I apologize in advance for thread shitting, but you did ask.
I hated it. Absolutely fucking HATED it! Actively, seethingly, wanna-punch-somebody-OUT hating it. I see a LOT of movies, and my reactions range from “Well, that was…ok, I guess” to “OH MY GOD THAT WAS GREAAAAAT!!!” but rarely, rarely do I walk out of a movie actively hating it. I can only think of one other one in the last 10 or so years (that would be Junebug).
That said, I’m not meaning to say it’s a bad movie. It’s actually probably a pretty good movie. It has great acting (though nothing as brilliant as Amy Adams in Junebug), and I applaud any movie that shows scenes of lesbian/gay couples as a regular long-term couple. The day will come when such a thing isn’t a novelty, and when many of them are legally married because they want to be married. Too bad that day isn’t here yet, but it will come.
I’d go into why I hated it, but 1) who really cares, and 2) I’m off to see Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky. Not in person, because that would be creepy, considering they’re dead and all.
It was good- not as good as people are saying it is. Very very funny. Annete Benning decided to play her character as basically a man with a vagina and it does fall into a lot of cliches that kind of grate.
I’m intrigued by it. I want to see it, but I’m not sure if I’m going to spend the money to see it in the theaters, or if I’ll just wait til it comes to DVD.
I saw it tonight. I really liked it, although it was a bit different from what I expected. The trailers portray it as a heartwarming comedy, but it seemed to me more of a drama with some comedic aspects. Parts of the story bring out some raw emotions.
A lot of the interest in the story comes from the characters struggling with their imperfections, and much of the excellent acting happens along these lines. I particularly liked the scenes where Annette Bening’s character tries to compensate for her own shortcomings.
We saw it yesterday, early screening, and theater was actually pretty full for that time of day.
We liked it a lot - great casting; every single actor was perfect in the role.
The story was very well written - there were so many places where this film could have taken a turn for the worse:
They didn’t make the father/sperm donor some wild and crazy slacker dude.
They didn’t make the kids sarcastic brats or mentally disturbed psychopaths.
They didn’t make the Lesbian couple a joke and kept their relationship real.
They didn’t add some horrible car crash or sudden need for a blood transfer or some contrived happy-end.
Do you need to run to your local multiplex to see this? No.
But do see it when it comes out on DVD or on your local premium channel.
A really well-written, perfectly cast and acted story.
I saw this one today and I liked it pretty well except for one big issue:
Why did they have to have Moore’s character sleep with Ruffalo? It seemed to fall back into the old bullshit that all a lesbian really needs is the right man to fuck her. The whole time they were giving each other glances, and it looked like something might happen, all I could think was, “*Please *don’t go there. Can’t a lesbian just be a lesbian?”
But, the acting was good and the reactions of the characters to the above bit felt real, I just wish they hadn’t felt the need to include that.
Regarding the situation that lots of people are complaining about:
This is a Lesbian couple who likes to watch GAY MALE porn! They freely admit they are kinky in that respect, so it should come as no surprise that one of them acts upon it. I don’t find this any weirder than some straight guy getting a blow job from a Gay dude - as an exception to his “norm”. She did not give up her Lesbian partner, she did not “convert” to heterosexuality - it was a fling by someone who needed to be wanted, and that person happened to be a guy at the moment. It kind of pisses me off that everyone is dwelling on this, especially when Gay porn is chock filled with supposedly “straight” guys crossing over for a first time experience. That is normal, but this isn’t?
I don’t understand the fuss. It DOES seem like its fairly normal for many lesbians to experiment with dudes, even in their 20s. Its kind of rare that a kid grows up in a lesbian or gay friendly household (although it does happen!)
In addition, we know they’re into penetration (not all lesbians are) because of the dildo the boys find.I appreciate Equipoise’s ardor, but I think it’s genuinely misguided here, letting that one element cloud her judgment of a good and perceptive film (which it seems she’s ready to admit to an extent). And I have to disagree with her assessment of the title (from another thread)—it’s a tribute to the love and stability the Moms have created that the Kids will be all right, despite the Interloper’s intrusion.
I know a lesbian couple who went through something similar - enough so that I’ve considered calling to recommend that they not see this movie because it might be too painful. Such things do happen, and I don’t think the point in the movie was that “all a lesbian really needs is the right man to fuck her.” When you consider the consequences for all the characters involved, sleeping with Paul was something Jules didn’t need. And remember that Jules didn’t leave her family for Paul - she stayed with Nic.
About her affair, that seemed to me to be fairly true to life. Don’t statistics show that about 60% of people in hetero marriages have affairs? And from my experiences with g/l couples, I think it is just as common (maybe more!) for them. So I didn’t see that as unusual.
Also, it seemed to be a reaction to her married life. Didn’t appear to be very much affection or sex there, but a whole lot of tension & judgmental reactions. I can see her feeling the need to look elsewhere for comfort & re-affirmation of her attractiveness.
But it appears it was just a fling – she went back to her wife & kids, despite his offer. So it appears the family will get beyond this.
But how many of that 60% is with a person of the same sex? I’m not saying it couldn’t happen, obviously it does, it just felt like a Hollywood cliche that I was hoping they wouldn’t fall into.
Seriously, I care. Blast away, dude! I love hearing opinions counter to my own.
I really liked it, found both the characters and conflict very authentic. I’m not usually into “real life” movies – I have enough of that in my own life, thank you – but this really grabbed me. Julianne Moore’s performance is Oscar worthy, IMHO, but all the acting was pitch-perfect.
My only real fault with the movie was that the resolution was a little weak. I appreciated that it was touching and genuine, but really, this was an episode in people’s lives. The movie didn’t really tie up much, if you think about it. At least not to me. But then, this is a movie about real life – it doesn’t all wrap itself up in a perfect bow.
