The Stanton Peele Addiction Website, July 15, 2010. This blog post also appeared on Stanton's blog at The Huffington Post website.

The Kids Are All Right Is All Right: No 18-Year-Olds Drink Wine or Have Sex!

I know parents are anxious about their children seeing -- about themselves watching -- a movie about a same-sex marriage with children, like The Kids Are All Right, Lisa Cholodenko's new film starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, and Mark Ruffalo.

Well, parents -- I can tell you: relax!

Overall, the film is about real human beings in real relationships who create a real family.

More important, although the film depicts cocaine use by a 15-year-old, intimate sex between same-sex and heterosexual partners (the latter is much more explicit, but come on -- this is America!), and marital infidelity, no 18-year-olds consume wine!

When the adults drink wine with their meals, the two adolescents (the older of whom just turned 18) ostentatiously drink water. True, the older kid downs a couple of drinks at a party, gets a little drunk, and misbehaves a bit. Especially risky is her driving home drunk (she also cuts down mother Bening for drinking too much) -- but come on, this is America! That's how we do it!

Plus, same-sex marriage, yes. Teen sex, no thanks. Nether kid has sex (belying national statistics); the 18-year-old hasn't been kissed! Ultimately, the film, however cutting edge, upholds fundamental American values -- thank God!