One of the most important issues in America today is gay civil rights. Things like gay marriage and “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” have been prominent discussions over the past several years, and there’s no better way for people to accept groups they are ignorant toward than through the media. We can’t have gay people visiting ignorant people door to door to show them that they are just like everyone else, but they can enter people’s homes through film and television. The Kids Are All Right is not only a witty and off-beat comedy, but also a landmark in the way gay people are portrayed in the media.

Nic (Annette Bening) and Jules (Julianne Moore) are a married lesbian couple living in California with their two children Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutcherson). As one would assume, Nic and Jules lack certain materials needed to conceive a child, so the two used sperm from the same donor to have their children. When Joni turns 18 she is pressured by Laser to find their biological father, and despite Joni’s reluctance she contacts Paul (Mark Ruffalo) their free-spirited donor. Nic’s insecurities come out as the kids, and even Jules become close with this bohemian male figure.

There are a million great things to say about this movie: it’s clever, it has sex-appeal, and it stirs conversation. Above all else, this movie is great because it represents a lesbian couple as something completely ordinary. Up to this point most queer cinema has made the queer factor the focal point, but that is not what you get here. If Annette Bening were replaced with a male actor who couldn’t produce sperm, the story would be almost the same. The dynamic of the marriage works just as any straight marriage, with fights, compromises, sexuality, and parenting at the center of it. This might sound trivial, but is so important to the movement going on today.

The Journey to Forming a Family, is designed to delve slightly deeper into the notion of this as an average family. What they focus on is that this is not a lesbian reincarnation of the Cleavers. It is made so that any family can look and relate to what is going on, good or bad. The Making of… and The Writer’s Process don’t deliver on the same level. They are short so they don’t droll on, but The Making of… is the typical cast interviews over trailer clips feature, and The Writer’s Process barely touches on anything aside from the relationship between writer, director Lisa Cholodenko and writer Stuart Blumberg.

The Kids Are All Right won’t make you laugh until it hurts or cry until you can’t bare it; it isn’t that type of film. You will certainly emote similarly to the characters with everything they go through. What this movie does phenomenally well is make

a social statement: this lesbian couple is no different from any traditional couple. They even do this without underplaying their identities: showing them watching gay porn and using sex toys. If there were more progressive thinking like this, both cinema and the rest of the world would benefit.