The Unnecessary Third-Act Twist in The Kids Are All Right Wasn't Always There

With $14 million in the bank thus far, The Kids Are All Right is well on its way to becoming the (500) Days of Summer of 2010 -- i.e.; the indie hit that discerning types choose to see over stuff like The Other Guys. While the film has gotten rave reviews from critics, though, there is one problem with it that seems unavoidable: The ending. Needless to say, spoilers ahead...

After Jules (Julianne Moore) and her kids' sperm donor Paul (Mark Ruffalo) are found to be having an affair, the latter is rejected unilaterally and immediately. Paul is hated by his kids, hated even more by Jules' wife Nic (Annette Bening) and there to function as the antagonist in a movie that -- up until that point -- was free of typical Hollywood definitions of "good" and "bad." It's a jarring and out-of-left-field character turn because the audience has been made to truly like Paul for all his flaws, and it changes the entire tone of the film in some unpleasing ways.

Apparently this wasn't always the case. Scott Feinberg got his hands on a March 2009 copy of the Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg screenplay for The Kids Are All Right, in which Paul is given a stay of execution during Jules's climactic "marriage is hard" speech. Here's the 2009 version:

Look, it's no secret your mom and I have been going through a rough patch lately. That happens in marriages, especially ones that have lasted as long as ours. But instead of looking at our problems and trying to deal with them head-on, I went and did something really stupid. It may be shocking to you, but adults aren't exempt from making mistakes. Anyway, I know you're all really furious with me. I can take that. I'm a big girl. But what I can't take is the thought that my bad decisions have ruined your relationship with a good man...

[preempting Nic]

Call him what you want, Nic, but Paul's a good guy. No, he isn't blameless, he was there too. But if I'm gonna be honest about it, the person who really pushed it was me.

[beat; to the kids]

I know this whole thing's confusing. I wish it wasn't. But life's just like that sometimes.

The emphasis there is mine. That script also allows for a final reconciliation between Paul and his daughter, Joni. Neither that meeting nor the key line of dialogue in Jules' speech relieving Paul from shouldering all of the blame appear in the final cut of the film.

When Movieline spoke to Cholodenko earlier this summer, she confirmed and defended the changes:

We didn't feel like we cut off the Mark Ruffalo character -- we felt like, "This is where it's organic for him to end." This is a person who's kind of lived a certain lifestyle -- he has a certain je ne sais quoi and joie de vivre, for better or for worse -- and now, when it really counts, he sort of bottomed out. He needs to kind of rethink how he approaches people and makes choices, and what the consequences are. We didn't feel like it was evil, like we'd killed the Wicked Witch or something -- we just felt like, "OK, the guy landed on his ass a bit. There's potential for him to reunite with the family, but it's just not gonna be that week."

Whether or not that comes across in the finished product, however, certainly remains up for debate.

· Soliloquies That Sealed the Deal [Scott Feinberg via Hollywood Elsewhere]