Kinsey
Fox Searchlight Pictures | Release Date: November 12, 2004 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
79
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 40 Critic Reviews
Positive:
35
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Hollywood ReporterMichael Rechtshaffen
One of the year's most satisfying films. Read full review
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The strength of Kinsey is finally in the clarity it brings to its title character. It is fascinating to meet a complete original, a person of intelligence and extremes. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Kinsey is patient and educational and never (darn it) rude or shocking. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
The movie's strength lies in its portrayal of a many-sided genius, as manipulative as he was charming and persuasive, monomaniacal to a fault, generous and sweet yet utterly clueless about the emotional havoc he wrought in the name of science. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Intelligently written and directed with a pleasing frankness by Bill Condon and well played by Liam Neeson, Laura Linney and a strong supporting cast, the film skillfully uses the forms of old Hollywood to tell a story that would have given heart failure to Harry Cohn and his fellow tycoons. Read full review
90
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Mr. Condon's great achievement is to turn Kinsey's complicated and controversial career into a grand intellectual drama. Read full review
90
SlateDavid Edelstein
A stupendously moving film. Neeson nails Kinsey's rock-hard decency and fragile ego, and Linney abets him beautifully: There isn't an actress in movies right now who's more simply alive. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Liam Neeson has never had a richer character to play on screen -- including his landmark role in "Schindler's List" -- and has never displayed such formidable energy and virtuosity.
90
The New YorkerDavid Denby
Playful and happy and even naughty. It's partly a scientific brief, partly a song of sex, and it's enormously enjoyable. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Scrappy, funny, hot-to-trot biopic. Read full review
88
USA TodayMike 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
88
New York PostLou Lumenick
It's as purely entertaining as it is thought-provoking and timely. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
The face-to-face interviews laced throughout the movie are fascinating and often laugh-out-loud funny. Ask people to talk dirty and you don't know what they'll say. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
This hip, highly partisan biography of Dr. Alfred C. Kinsey is a surprisingly entertaining movie about the perils of studying sexual behavior in a sexually uptight culture--our own. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
As superbly crafted -- as good -- as this movie is, Condon never really owns up to the cloud of pessimism at its center. Read full review
88
PremiereGlenn Kenny
Those who aren't inclined to lambaste will surely have some stimulating conversations after the film is over. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The movie's scientific content is so fascinating that it almost feels like a bonus that Kinsey himself is such an intriguing figure. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianMarc Mohan
Controversy aside, there's no denying that Kinsey was a pivotal figure in 20th-century America, and one whose fascinating story makes for a fascinating film. Read full review
80
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Lively, sometimes funny and, inevitably, provocative. Read full review
80
TimeRichard Corliss
The movie wants to entertain and educate, not leer, about people flummoxed by participating in a revolution they had meant only to calibrate, and at that it succeeds handsomely. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson 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
80
Film ThreatPete Vonder Haar
It is Condon's adroit handling of the subject matter and the caliber of performances within that carry it above the norm. Read full review
80
EmpireAdam Smith
A deftly directed, superbly acted and occasionally witty biopic which is not afraid to engage with the complexities of its central character. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
This is a fine motion picture with a couple of superlative performances. It is arguably the best, most honest bio-pic of the year. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
The movie's style is fairly staid, but it's hard to imagine how Neeson could be better, and the subject is handled with taste and tact. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven 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
75
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Condon's direction is steady and fearless, Neeson and Linney are individually excellent and together they create an inspiring chemistry for a truly adventurous marriage. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
It's sober, never flashy or exciting but always engrossing. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
A mature biopic as entertaining as it is timely. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Ken Tucker
It's a new Neeson as Dr. Alfred Kinsey, all spiky-haired and harried, and he's enormously appealing in the role. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
For a film about man who spent half his life defying staid convention, Kinsey remains as timid as a choirboy. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Opening too late for the election but still one the year's most politically relevant movies, Condon's earnestly middlebrow biopic is an argument for tolerance and diversity. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
If only Condon kept up the Q&A format, because when he ditches it the movie turns flat and familiar. Read full review
70
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
Throughout the film a question tugs at the viewer. Kinsey's work was inarguably important, but his life is not especially interesting. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
Kinsey is too tasteful by half, and while it may have its gentle charms, it never thrills. Read full review
60
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Apart from some unexaggerated notations about American puritanism in the 1940s and '50s, this is more a work of exploration than a thesis, and Condon mainly avoids sensationalism. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineEthan Alter
By focusing on one period in his life, this film chronicles the bulk of Kinsey's experiences while barely scratching the surface of his personality. Read full review
60
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Condon's tone is gentle and lifeless and at times baffling: The picture is a weird cross between clinical and whimsical. Read full review
60
Washington PostTeresa Wiltz
For all its explosive material, this is a fairly straightforward telling. Read full review
50
Baltimore SunMichael 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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