Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2011

©2009 Overture Films, LLC. All Rights Reserved

When a pair of teenage half-siblings conceived through the artificial insemination of their married (to each other) mothers using sperm from the same donor seek to meet their birth father, the dynamics in their functional-as-any, upper-middle-class household are shifted. Mother Nic (Annette Bening), a doctor and the alpha female, resents it when the guy (Mark Ruffalo), an aging hippie now the owner of an organic restaurant, begins to bond with the kids. But Mother Jules (Julianne Moore), feeling perhaps a bit neglected after 20 years with Nic, engages in some decidedly more physical bonding, of a heterosexual nature. Nobody’s perfect. While this smart comedy of manners from Lisa Cholodenko (High Art, Laurel Canyon) is centered on a lesbian marriage, it’s not about lesbians; it’s about marriage, parenting and partnerships, and I can’t name a better film on the subject. The tone is light, the dialogue intelligent, and the actors convincing to a (wo)man. This satisfying, funny film is more universal than alternative, it’s not manipulative and it doesn’t preach. And I liked the loose ends left untidied at the end. Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland) and Josh Hutcherson play the kids.