Welcome to 2010, where what I've decided we'll dub the "Teen Josh" era continues!
Josh had 2 projects release this year - a movie and a short film. We'll get to the short film next, but for now, let's discuss The Kids Are All Right.
Josh's trend of playing a troubled kid continues in this film. We just watched him play a teen who was troubled enough to give up normal life in favor of becoming a murdering "Vampaneze" (evil Vampire) in Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant and while he wasn't breaking out the purple contacts in this film, his character, Laser, had his share of issues.
For instance, when we're introduced to Laser, he's doing drugs with his best friend Clay, who proves to be a "bad influence" throughout the film. Despite this, Laser proves to be an independent thinker. We learn this through the movie's main plot - the children of a lesbian couple, Laser and his sister, Jodi, had yet to meet their biological father (aka the sperm donor that helped their mothers out years ago) so Laser convinces his sister to make contact with him. It's then that we meet the man who is partially responsible for these births, Paul, played by the fantastic Mark Ruffalo.
Unfortunately, what begins as a relatively pleasant yet awkward first meeting between the kids and Paul ends up opening a can of worms. The kids' secret doesn't stay secret long and the moms connect with Paul. (One of them connects a lot if you know what I mean!) The cheating only adds to the complicated situation, giving the moms (and kids) a new challenge to overcome.
While we more commonly see same-sex couples in media today, at the time, it was among the first to showcase a gay couple. Therefore, Josh was part of one of the casts that paved the way for more inclusion of LGBTQ+ characters in film, and given his awesome advocacy work for this group, it seems fitting that this project is on his resume. This movie also won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture and got four Academy Award nominations - not too shabby!
Josh definitely contributed to that Golden Globe win for his performance as Laser. Again, this was a more complex character to play as Laser had a lot going on in this film - he was discovering who he was as a person through his (kinda toxic) relationship with his best friend and wrestling with the emotions that came with meeting his bio-dad at the same time. As usual, Josh unveils these emotions really authentically. The scene that stands out the most is when the siblings meet Paul for the first time. Josh brings us into the moment by conveying the excitement, nervousness, and awkwardness as Laser came face-to-face with Paul.
If you haven't seen this one yet, at the time of this writing, I found it for sale on most of the major platforms, but didn't find it on a streaming service. I snagged it on Amazon!
Next up, we have a short film to chat about. Let's get to it!
Peace and Joshperity,
G
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