Kinsey

Name: Kinsey
Genre: Biography, Drama
Released: November 12, 2004
Duration: 118 min
Rating: 79
Cast: Chris O'Donnell, Laura Linney, Liam Neeson

2004

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 72 Ratings

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Kinsey

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Movie Details & Credits

Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: November 12, 2004 | TV-MA

Starring: Chris O'Donnell, Laura Linney, Liam Neeson

Summary: This film turns the microscope on Alfred Kinsey (Neeson) in a portrait of a man driven to uncover the most private secrets of a nation. (Fox Searchlight)

Director: Bill Condon

Genre(s): Biography, Drama

Rating: TV-MA

Runtime: 118 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Michael Rechtshaffen

One of the year's most satisfying films. Read full review

Dana Stevens

Mr. Condon's great achievement is to turn Kinsey's complicated and controversial career into a grand intellectual drama. Read full review

Mike Clark

Linney is a match for Neeson, and the only thing that might keep Lithgow from getting a supporting-Oscar nomination is the brevity of the part. Read full review

Desson Thomson

If it lacks a certain fuzzy warmth, Kinsey makes up for the shortfall with spirited and (for a commercial movie) amazingly candid vigor. It's an alert, lively movie with a crackling performance by Liam Neeson. Read full review

Steven Rea

Compared to "Ray," which takes Ray Charles' unique life story and manages to make it feel like a cliche, Kinsey is total sophistication and nuance. Read full review

Scott Tobias

For a film about man who spent half his life defying staid convention, Kinsey remains as timid as a choirboy. Read full review

Michael Sragow

The movie dramatizes a social-sexual sea change with an out-of-control blend of cartoon farce and melodrama and clinical, often ludicrous sex scenes. Read full review

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User Reviews

TonyS.

Feb 4, 2006

Moving, complex, educational, and fully satisfying. Neeson and Linney head up as good a cast as you can get. Compelling both as a tribute to the modern scientific spirit and as a critique of pre-modern moralistic rigidity.

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greggiehooo

May 27, 2022

Great acting. Powerful and important story for 2004. Also just informative in general. Never knew this history.

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

FrankO.

Jan 25, 2006

Better than I expected, like the use of color and blk/white...great sequence learning their interview process...Neeson and Linney were very good. Peter Sarsgaard is underrated actor; plot kept moving, Bill Condon did great job just as he did with Gods and Monsters - another good flick you Better than I expected, like the use of color and blk/white...great sequence learning their interview process...Neeson and Linney were very good. Peter Sarsgaard is underrated actor; plot kept moving, Bill Condon did great job just as he did with Gods and Monsters - another good flick you should see.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful

AbbyL

Jul 3, 2007

Very complex and interesting view.

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FilipeNeto

Sep 15, 2021

Alfred Kinsey is still a little consensual figure today. Appointed justly as a pioneer and "father" of Sexology and scientific studies around human sexuality, he fought for these studies at a time of enormous social conservatism and managed to publish two important scientific studies in theAlfred Kinsey is still a little consensual figure today. Appointed justly as a pioneer and "father" of Sexology and scientific studies around human sexuality, he fought for these studies at a time of enormous social conservatism and managed to publish two important scientific studies in the area, which greatly shocked and changed the way in which society and the academic community faced sex. However, as later studies have argued, the methods used by Kinsey were not always the most impartial and correct, such as the claim that he was too much concerned with homosexuality and the way in which he encouraged his students and collaborators to record, in detail, the sexual encounters and practices they had in their own privacy for study purposes. The film, in part, reflects the controversies, but highlights the essential: the pioneering spirit of a man who made sex known to a society that refused to even utter that word, paving the way for the changes and upheavals that, decades later, would allow the Sexual Revolution.

After these introductory words, I don't think it's worth talking about the script. With a non-linear narrative, the film addresses several important moments in the scientist's life, with his origins in an ultra-conservative milieu (his father was a particularly harsh and puritan religious preacher) and the way he managed to break away from that milieu to graduate in sciences, becoming a distinguished entomologist and, later, dedicating himself to the study of sexuality, in part driven by events in his personal and marital life. The film does not have an erotic charge, as one might think at first, but the dialogues are full of varied allusions to sexuality (acts, positions, specific practices, fantasies, perversions, etc.) and this is as didactic as it is unpleasant, so I personally advise against the film for minors.

Liam Neeson is an excellent actor, but this film is far from being one of the best and most relevant in his extensive filmography. Still, it's worth highlighting the actor's commitment and the way he managed to give the character an aura of charisma, like a lone crusader in a very personal war. Beside her, the beautiful Laura Linney gave life to a dedicated and liberal wife, with a free spirit, but faithful to the love that was born in her marriage. Personally, I think she was even better than Neeson, stealing attention whenever she shows up and turning the character into someone who is easy to like. The reward was her nomination for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. The film also features appearances by other well-known actors such as John Lithgow, Timothy Hutton, Chris O'Donnell, Peter Sarsgaard, Oliver Platt and Tim Curry. Everyone, without major exceptions, made a good contribution to the film and did a positive job.

Technically, it's a low-key film, one that doesn't overwhelm and leaves the script and cast to the full attention of the audience. The cinematography is very good and works very well, as is the editing work, which gives the film a pleasant pace and allows the two and a half hours to pass without the audience realizing it. The film is set in the mid-twentieth century, and this is achieved very effectively through the sets, a series of props (the telephone, for example, or even the black-and-white radio and newspapers, and the old cars) and very dated but very elegant clothing. The film doesn't have very obvious effects, but what was used has quality and works well.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Tony

Oct 11, 2005

Structurally sound and extremely well acted, Kinsey is a reminder of both how things change and how they remain essentially the same.

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juliankleiss

Jan 13, 2011

This movie seeks to explain the roots of American 20th century prudence towards sexuality, also showing how this kind of (non-)education lead to the emotional and physical suffering of many. Kinsey includes topics such as feminism, homosexuality, and problems of scientific research. KinseyThis movie seeks to explain the roots of American 20th century prudence towards sexuality, also showing how this kind of (non-)education lead to the emotional and physical suffering of many. Kinsey includes topics such as feminism, homosexuality, and problems of scientific research. Kinsey seeks to liberate sexuality, but also shows that social constraints regarding sex (ranging from adultery to zoophilia) do have the purpose of preventing that someone gets hurt. Eventually the film compares marriage to a happy tree. The tree is not free due to being rooted, but having roots is a nice thing in itself for we humans strive to overcome nihilism with love.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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