All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise

Gay families are just like everyone else. That's the premise of this movie. Filmmaker Shari Cookson does a great job showing how gay and lesbian families are similar to straight families. Parents hover over their children despite the kids' desire for independence. They break down at the thought of their teens going to college across the country. They struggle with infertility. They struggle to get their toddlers to put on their sandals before leaving the cabin. And then there's the constant struggle to show their kids that they're proud of who they are, despite the disapproval of their extended families and a protest in the Bahamas that leaves some of their children in tears.

At one point, a teen girl says, "The hardest thing is that we constantly have to try to be the perfect model family so people will think we're growing up OK. That's a lot of pressure." Perhaps because O'Donnell is an executive producer of the film, the film makes the same mistake. There are no domestic problems on display here -- no out-of-control teens and no unhappy marriages. The documentary presents a face that, while reaffirming for gay viewers, also leaves viewers with the sense that they're not getting the complete picture.