"I just don't want to let John down."

Many people, myself included, approached the idea of the Game Change film with slight wariness, an attitude of “too soon” surrounding the whole project. However, in looking at the political landscape in this current election, it is perhaps more necessary than ever that we are given a reminder of what it was like the last time around.

The film is ultimately quite even-handed in its portrayal of Sarah Palin. This is thanks entirely to the performance of Julianne Moore. Moore has built her career on playing characters that can perhaps best be referred to as the “Complicated American Woman” (see The Hours or Far From Heaven) and within minutes of this film, it becomes impossible to imagine such a sensitive role in the hands of any other actress. For Tina Fey, playing Palin was mainly about getting the voice down. For Moore, it is about finding where Sarah Palin, the woman, ends and where Palin the frightened child begins.

Indeed, the dynamic established between Palin and the majority of the McCain staff (particularly Steve Schmidt and Nicolle Wallace) is akin to that between cautious parents and a petulant daughter. She is frequently referred to as “poor girl” by Ed Harris’s John McCain, and in one scene where she is essentially giving her advisers the silent treatment, Schmidt (a captivating Woody Harrelson) appeals to her as one would an insecure teenage girl, commenting on how he is concerned at her weight loss and that she should give up her no-carb diet.

Whether it’s because of our own proximity to the 2008 election or because of our national perspective on the event itself (after all, we know how the film ends before it begins), it is truly not possible to watch this and offer any sincere mea culpa about how rigorously she was criticized throughout the McCain campaign. That said, the film does not necessarily ask this of us. Instead, we are asked only to understand that this woman quite simply should never have been chosen for this position. To this end, we are able to pity her.

As far as any “bias” goes within the film-making itself (and I admit I do not have enough background knowledge on the production process and cannot speak to sources beyond the book) the most glaring point of contention is that, through its portrayal of McCain’s staff, it seems to suggest that the selection of Sarah Palin was the sole mistake made in the entire McCain campaign. It does include references to the week in which McCain postponed debates in order to return to Washington and deal with the economy, as well as the increasingly harsh rhetoric used toward the end of the campaign, but even in these instances, the blame is either placed on others or disregarded entirely.

By the end of the film, we have not been led to “like” Sarah Palin. But we do find ourselves with a better understanding of who she was, and how the American population responded to, and in some senses manipulated, the image she presented. There are moments where even the film itself is willing to poke fun. The conversation between Palin and Steve Schmidt over the pronunciation of “Biden” (as opposed to “O’Biden, as Palin kept saying) borders on Abbot and Costello routine.

However, as stated, this film does prove that we have gained enough distance from the 2008 election that we are at least able to feel sorry for her. As Palin watches in silent humiliation while Tina Fey and Amy Poehler lambaste her Katie Couric interview, I admit that a part of me just wanted to step in and tell her to change the damn channel.

The Kids Are All Right (and we will be, too)

Pictured (left to right): Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Josh Hutcherson, Mia Wasikowska, Mark Ruffalo

Frankly, I support any film that involves an impromptu Joni Mitchell sing-a-long between Annette Bening and Mark Ruffalo. If that had been the only scene I watched from this summer gem, my opinion would probably be the same as it is now. But this is not to say that was the only moment of enjoyment. “The Kids Are All Right” is a fresh, smart, and ultimately brave comedy that delights and enlightens its audiences from start to finish.

The key is that it makes its statement without actually making it. Like “The Hurt Locker” commented on the Middle East by allowing the soldiers to speak for themselves, “Kids” presents the fact that Annette Bening and Julianne Moore are a married lesbian couple as established fact, no need for further discussion. This is Mom and Mom, these are their kids, this is their life. Believe it or not, it’s a lot like yours.

Nic (Bening) is mama bear, ready to defend her cubs and mate from any intruders. Jules (Moore) is the free-spirit, the “I’m your friend” parent, though not as embarrassing as say, Phil Dunphy of “Modern Family.” Their children Joni and Laser (Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson) are anywhere’s teenagers, profoundly confused and defensive when asked about it. Together they are (for all intents and purposes) a traditional American family.

Things change of course when Joni and Laser, out of pure curiosity, decide to contact their mothers’ sperm donor, Paul (Mark Ruffalo). Paul is the definition of a “cool dude” but Laser has it right when he initially characterizes him as “a little into himself.” He is their sperm donor, not their father. Through the bizarre yet very realistic triangle that emerges between the three adults, the audience begins to realize that the kids may in fact be the only ones who are all right (but still not great).

Early in the film Jules attempts to explain to Laser that “human sexuality can be very complicated” and none prove this more than her. The sexual relationship that emerges between Jules and Paul is curious but honest. As she and Nic drift father apart, she seeks Paul’s companionship as a refuge of appreciation and unbiased support. Not to mention, he is a part of her children, creating between them a connection that I think goes beyond any dictates of sexual preference.

The performances are spot on all around. Bening and Moore are tender and believable, we root for them through and through. Mark Ruffalo is the best he’s been in years thanks to a director who understands what to do with his sleepy mumble. As for the kids, Wasikowska is at her "In Treatment" best and Hutcherson can easily call this his breakthrough.

I very gladly add "The Kids Are All Right" to my list of 2010’s best (which right now has I Am Love in its #1 spot). It is emotional yet understated, clever but not full of itself. In terms of its politics, as said before, it does not preach in the slightest. It simply shows how today’s everchanging image of the “nuclear family” is still, at its core, facing the same challenges it has since the idea of the American Dream began.