'The Kids Are All Right' But Not in Maplewood

On July 9, Lisa Cholodenko's new film The Kids Are All Right makes its debut in New York and Los Angeles. The film stars Annette Bening and Julianne Moore as a lesbian couple raising two teenagers. Their lives are complicated when their sperm donor re-enters the picture at the behest of their children.

The film, set in suburban Southern California, was almost set in Maplewood. As Cholodenko (director of High Art and Laurel Canyon) told Filmmaker magazine, "Stuart [Blumberg, her co-writer] and I had this idea that the family would live in Maplewood, New Jersey, where all the gays and liberal people are moving, and Paul [the sperm donor] would be a Red Hook pioneer guy."

Unfortunately for Maplewoodians, our town as the film's locale never came to pass. The film's location was moved to Southern California when Robin Wright Penn dropped out of the production and Annette Bening took her place.

Still, the movie is getting raves for its witty, intelligent script and bright performances (plus its showcasing of some nice wines). We don't know when The Kids Are All Right will reach the Maplewood Theater but you can see it tomorrow in New York at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas on Broadway near 63rd Street; the AMC Village Theatres VII, on 3rd Avenue at 11th Street; and Clearview Cinemas' Chelsea Cinemas, on 23rd Street near 8th Avenue.