Customer Reviews:

• Good movie, interesting history, makes a point.
  The self-proclaimed morality police won't like this one much because part of the point of the movie is that they get in the way of people understanding important things, like the science of how their bodies function.
  
  Other than that, it's a good movie. Well acted, moves along quickly. ...more info
• The Story Behind "The Kinsey Report" & Its Unlikely Author.
  "Kinsey" is the story of the life and research of Dr. Alfred Kinsey, the University of Indiana zoology professor whose 1948 study "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" got Americans talking about sex. Writer/director Bill Condon consulted Kinsey biographies, the Kinsey Institute, and some of those who knew the man in writing Kinsey's life story for the screen. The film uses the device of Kinsey (Liam Neeson) giving his sex history to an interviewer -which he did many times in training his researchers- to frame and pace the narrative. This provides a convenient means of exploring significant events in Kinsey's life while skipping over others without seeming clumsy. "Kinsey" follows the professor's life from his childhood as the son of a puritanical Methodist minister, through his 20-year study of gall wasps, his relationship with his wife Clara "Mac" McMillen (Laura Linney), teaching UI's first "marriage course" that was Kinsey's introduction to sex research and the beginning of his crusade for education, through the research for his best-selling book on male sexuality and the public wrath brought by his book on female sexuality.
  
  Needless to say, Liam Neeson doesn't look like Alfred Kinsey, but he conveys just the right combination of academic nerdiness and enthusiastic curiosity to make the audience understand why Kinsey embraced sex research and education with the same obsessive zeal that he approached all of his projects. Laura Linney is wonderful as his perceptive and tolerant wife, through whom the film puts Kinsey and his research in perspective. The supporting cast is like a who's who of New York stage actors and Hollywood character actors. Peter Sarsgaard always brings something interesting to his characters, and here he is Kinsey's seductive assistant Clyde Martin. Timothy Hutton and Chris O'Donnell play the other research assistants whose interviews of various volunteers give the film some laugh-out-loud moments. John Lithgow makes Kinsey's father an interesting character to watch even though the man seems one-dimensional, rather like a broken record. "Kinsey" is a biopic that reveals the story and the personalities behind America's most famous sex study, as well as the impact that boiling everything down to numbers had on the researchers and their families.
  
  The DVD (20th Century Fox 2005 single disc release): Although there is a 2-disc Special Edition available, the only bonus feature on the single disc is an audio commentary by writer/director Bill Condon. The commentary is heavy on the process of getting the film financed and made, with occasional analysis of scenes, discussion of characters, themes, and style. Subtitles are available for the film in English and Spanish. Dubbing is available in Spanish and French....more info
• Great movie !
  Good Sex stuff to learn from. Not about acting, but how people work.
  
  I loved it perhaps too much....more info
• I "Kinsey" I made a mistake
  Some good performances, especially by Linney & Lithgow, but a rather tedious Hollywood movie. Even so, it is worth slogging your way through to the end for the piece de resistance: a brilliantly performed monologue by Lynn Redgrave....more info
• Dull and Dispassionate; Had to Turn It Off
  This is a film utterly lacking in any kind of dramatic continuity or prevailing sense of character. This is both the fault of writer/director Bill Condon and his main performer, Liam Neeson, who gives a terrible performance as Kinsey, the famous sex researcher. He goes from being a quirky and shy scientist to a belligerent man with an unhealthy obsession with sex from one scene to the next. The scenes of characters interacting are lifeless, particularly between Kinsey and his wife, played by Laura Linney. Their initial fliration is awkward, and they lack any kind of rapport, though Linney is always a good actress to watch onscreen- especially when she confronts Kinsey about his own obsessions and infidelity. Peter Sarsgaard does a great job as Martin, the young researcher who seduces Kinsey and makes him contemplate his bisexuality. This is a competently made film about an interesting subject- with absolutely no passion or characters to genuinely invest onself in. ...more info
• Carefully crafted, engrossing film biography
  Dr. Alfred Kinsey's pioneering research into the sexual behavior of humans, resulting in two monumental books that appeared after World War II, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, is acknowledged both by his supporters and detractors to have been one of the seminal causes of the so-called Sexual Revolution in America. It is to Bill Condon's credit that in writing and directing this film biography he has avoided sensationalizing its subject while not shying away from its discomforting aspects.
  
  Using Kinsey's technique of face-to-face interviews with his subjects as a framing device, his life work is shown together with the complex nature of the man himself and his personal relationships. Liam Neeson in the title role conveys Kinsey's bluster, single-minded obsessiveness, tenderness and frailty all rolled together into a superb performance, with Laura Linney matching him in commitment as Clara "Mac," his wife. An unusually large and lustrous supporting cast surrounds them, among them luminaries such as Chris O'Donnell, Timothy Hutton, John Lithgow, Tim Curry and, in an unexpected and moving cameo near the end, Lynn Redgrave. Peter Sarsgaard, as Clyde Martin, Kinsey's assistant and sometime lover both to him and his wife, must be singled out for his nuanced interpretation of a complex character, which includes a male-to-male seduction scene of a frankness and complexity rarely seen in American film. It is startling to realize that this is the same actor who played Hilary Swank's brutal rapist and murderer in Boys Don't Cry. While the pacing is occasionally over-stately, and the biopic format results in some rather formulaic film devices, such as the montage of talking heads superimposed on a U.S. map representing the extent of the Kinsey team's research, the look and feel of the entire film unobtrusively but superbly conveys the period and Midwestern academic locale (one is surprised to learn that much of it was shot in New York and the Tri-State area). Without heavy-handed preaching, Kinsey makes us aware both of how far society has come since the days of his research and, sadly, how far it still has to go.
  
  The latest DVD release, a deluxe two-disc set, is worth having mainly for the engrossing hour-and-a-half documentary about the making of the film, in which interviews with director Bill Condon and producer Gail Mutrux tie together a multitude of topics including the conception of the original idea, difficulties in financing the film, and most vividly the trials involved in doing a major production on a tight budget and severely constrained shooting schedule. The rest includes the usual packages of deleted scenes, bloopers, trailers and--rather more interesting--a viewer's own do-it-him/herself sex survey....more info
• Puritan America's sexual awakening through Kinsey...
  It never occurred to me that watching a film about Dr. Kinsey would be like watching a dry documentary about a fascinating subject. That's the impression one can get from the opening scenes--but fortunately, the film improves as it goes on.
  
  The film is structured as a series of vignettes based on the sort of questions that were posed in the Kinsey Report which was widely read and published in the '50s--and to some degree it works. We see how Kinsey himself came to regard sex and the study of it.
  
  JOHN LITHGOW is his puritan, uptight father ("The decline of the Roman Empire was due to too frequent use of bathing"), revealed through questions posed by CHRIS O'DONNELL and TIMOTHY HUTTON as Kinsey workers being trained to ask the probing questions. LIAM NEESON has the title role as the professor with the bold teaching methods unafraid to talk about sex. LAURA LINNEY is the forthright student who encounters Kinsey at college and forms a relationship with him. She's a brilliant scholar, a free thinker with a profound love of nature.
  
  Unfortunately, watching some of the scenes unfold are like watching paint dry despite sincere performances by Neeson and Linney who hold the story together. The first awkward sexual experience between Neeson and Linney in marriage is almost painfully awkward and unsettling to watch. We realize while watching the early portions of the film that we were really in the dark about sexuality until Kinsey boldly brought forth talk about masturbation, homosexuality, oral sex, etc., which all were taboo subjects that kept everyone in the dark until his study was released.
  
  Despite all the graphic sex talk, the film itself manages to be rather more dry than might be expected--and preachy, at that, when dealing with the regulations that governed sexual conduct in the 1950s and long before we treated sex as candidly as we do today in the media.
  
  But it has to be commended for making a strong point about raising a significant question: What is normal? Until "The Kinsey Report" came out, nobody had the foggiest idea, so enormous was his contribution. Everybody read the report to find out if they were normal! We've come a long way since then. There's a lot to be said for the kind of enlightenment that came with "the report" that took most Americans out of the dark ages.
  
  But oddly enough, with all the sex talk, the film is largely non-stimulating. Too bad there weren't more scenes like the one between JOHN LITHGOW and LIAM NEESON when Neeson convinces his father to be a subject for his report. OLIVIER PLATT gives a good performance as a fellow scientist and all of the supporting roles are well played by a fine cast. Nice work by LYNN REDGRAVE as a woman who, thanks to Kinsey, realizes she's not the only woman in the world to experience Lesbian tendencies and find fulfillment with a woman. And PETER SARSGAARD is wonderful as the bisexual who shares a torrid kissing scene with Neeson.
  
  Summing up: Uneven film has many moments of truth leading up to publication of "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male"--and later, an equally well read study of the female--which became huge best-sellers and delivered a lot of folks from a life of ignorance about a topic dearest to their hearts.
  
  ...more info
• Lacking in subtlety
  Kinsey bears a striking resemblance to Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind: both are biopic's of controversial historical figures whose single minded pursuit of the "truth" in their chosen fields went against the grain of social convention; both are simplistic, overly sentimental accounts designed as much to tug at the audience's heart strings as to paint a balanced portrait of a complex figure.
  
  Liam Neeson is solid in the lead role as Alfred Kinsey, the man who revolutionised what we know of, and how we view, sex in the western world, while Laura Linney is excellent as his loving, long-suffering wife.
  
  The film shows us Kinsey's formative years being brought up by an overbearing and puritanical father, which lead to a certain lack of social grace and empathy for others in later life, when he becomes an expert etomologist. Kinsey's lack of sexual experience leads to a disastrous wedding night, and he realises that there is almost no scientific material on human sexual practice. This, coupled to a realisation that being an expert on wasps isn't likely to lead to widespread scientific acclaim, is the lightbulb moment when he decides his life's work should be to collect data on human sexuality - starting with students of his sex education college class.
  
  I found the almost universal willingness of Kinsey's subjects to reveal all about their sex lives without so much as blushing, difficult to believe. Bearing in mind this was the conservative 1940s and no such exercise had ever been undertaken, many people would undoubtedly find such personal questions highly embarassing and even immoral. I also found the ease with which Kinsey persuades both his College and the Rockefeller Foundation to support and fund his studies just a little too convenient. As the film goes on to show, Kinsey's work led to a good deal of controversy which I can't believe wasn't there at the outset.
  
  Bill Condon's direction is somewhat simplistic (for instance the montage scenes of talking heads juxtaposed onto a map of the USA) and his characterisation a little shallow, while the script is no more than adequate - some of the dialogue jars, especially the scene of Kinsey's family openly discussing sex at the dinner table, to the disgust of his son.
  
  Neeson is a fine actor, but ultimately Kinsey doesn't give him the opportunity to show much subtlety and nuance in a fairly one-dimensional portait of an important 20th century figure.
  ...more info
• Love is the answer
  Giving a bravura performance as Dr Alfred Kinsey, Liam Neeson elevates "Kinsey" beyond the rather dry source material. In real life, Dr Kinsey was an analyst who researched his subjects with a disconnect that helped him separate statistics from the mores of the days. Intellectually, this was nothing short of groundbreaking, but otherwise, it's like reading a college textbook.
  
  With a script that picks up speed as it progresses, Director/Writer Bill Condon (Gods and Monsters) takes the analytical Kinsey and surrounds him with all the things he isn't. The two best roles belong to the the seducing Peter Sarsgaard as Clyde Martin, a bisexual who seduces both Dr Kinsey and his wife, but then himself destroyed when he finds his wife is cheating on him. Mrs Kinsey is played as a loyal if somewhat flustered wife by Laura Linney, who shades her performance with the struggle of emotionally understanding and loving a man that can barely do either.
  
  In other, smaller roles, the cast is exemplary. Tim Curry plays a prudish academic who is jealous of Dr Kinsey's breakthrough. Oliver Pratt does a good job as the President of Indiana University, delighted that Kinsey's book (Sexual Behavior in the Human Male) is helping to fill the university's coffers but nervous about the controversy. William Sadler appears as a insatiable sex-addict who breaks Kinsey's reserve about judging his subject. And finally, there is a final film stealing cameo from Lynn Redgrave, who brings the full import of what Kinsey accomplished into focus, while giving Dr Kinsey a lesson in the humanities.
  
  The combination of characters and direction makes "Kinsey" both informative and entertaining. As you watch the young Albert Kinsey trying to break away from a repressive religious upbringing (from under a stern and emotionally brutalizing John Lithgow), you can see how he grew up both rebellious and dispassionate. It's a sensational movie that does its best to avoid sensationalism, and succeeds....more info
• Well-Made Bio-Pic about Alfred Kinsey, Whose Life is as Interesting as His Reports
  The director of critically acclaimed 'Gods and Monsters' Bill Condon made another bio-pic about a historical figure whose name everyone knows through his `reports,' but few people actually know about himself. Well, the personality Alfred Kinsey is, according to the film, very unique.
  
  The film is about the life of Alfred Kinsey, entomologist of Indiana University before he was known for what he became later. After studying and collecting thousands of bees (yes, thousands and more), he volunteers to give a lecture about marriage, or sex if you like, for the students in 1938. The course was a popular one, which led him to another study on the behavior of humans - 'Sexual Behavior in the Human Male' published in 1948.
  
  But the film is not about his study, but his unbelievable personality, and very complicated relations between the people surrounding him, especially his wife Clara. If the film is true (and I believe Bill Condon must have done a through research), Alfred Kinsey led a life (this case, sexually) that even the hippies in the 60s free love movement would not dare to follow. And Kinsey died in 1956.
  
  However, you may not believe me, but for all its subject matter, 'Kinsey' is not as controversial or shocking as it looks. That's partly because some descriptions of the film are clearly subdued (or some say whitewashed), but the main reason for the film's well-balanced look on him is that the film never glorifies Kinsey as a man. 'Kinsey' doesn't refuse to show the negative side of his character, or at least it shows quite blatantly his eccentric personality, which often makes you smile, but is sometimes very off-putting even today. While the film implies Alfred as a boy is tormented by his religious father and his creed, Alfred ironically himself turns out the presence like his father before his own children, with his too much zeal for study. In one sense, it looks as if Kinsey got his fame as the pioneer because he is hopelessly na?ve.
  
  Another merit of the film is unanimously good acting. Liam Neeson plays an American scholar convincingly, and Laura Linney is also very good as his wife Clara. There are many supports from Chris O'Donnell, Peter Sarsgaard, Timothy Hutton, John Lithgow, Tim Curry, Oliver Platt, Dylan Baker, and Lynn Redgrave. Some actors are effectively cast against type, and if you remember his role as child molester in `Happiness,' you know Dylan Baker as Dr. Allan Gregg who worries about the `shocking' and `immoral' nature of Kinsey's book is intentionally cast.
  
  I like the film's re-creation of the period before WW2, but in the latter half of the film 'Kinsey' stops showing the feeling of the contemporary period, and starts to concentrate on depicting the struggles of the Kinseys and his researchers themselves. It's strange, but you scarcely hear the news of wars, hot or cold. The film treats the battles between the opposing forces and Kinsey out of the historical context, and that attitude undermines the power that the film might have had. Though the conflict between the people over freedom and moral is an on-going matter, what happened about 50 years ago cannot be the same as the one in modern times, in which people can talk about sex more freely. Showing the feeling of the time is not just about old cars and costumes; it's about putting the subject matter in the right context.
  
  But all in all I think 'Kinsey' is a good film, and you can call it a good comedy at times. Don't miss its occasional humor thrown in, like the pun about `horses' and something else. 'Kinsey' is a well-made drama about the interesting characters with unique personalities....more info
• Very Entertaining and...Amusing Film
  "Kinsey" is written and directed by Oscar winner Bill Condon and has an all-star (and a great) cast featuring Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Peter Sarsgaard,
  Chris O'Donnel, Timothy Hutton, John Lithgow, and Oliver Platt. "Kinsey" scored 3 Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture and an Oscar nomination for Laura Linney. The movie is based on the life of Alfred Kinsey, a person I had no knowledge of prior to viewing this film. The movie is very entertaining, well told with some great dialouge and acting (for a bio-pic anyway). But, anyway Neeson (who should've got an Oscar nomination)
  plays Professor Alfred Kinsey, nicknamed Prok by his students. Prok studies and teaches about gall wasps and meets a student named Clara (Linney) who is one of the few women expressing interest in wasps herself. Clara eventually aquires the nickname Mac and the two get married. Both are virgins and after experiencing sex, Prok becomes fascinated with it and the ignorance of sex that people have. Kinsey takes it on himself to teach people about it and only becomes more and more interested as times goes on. The movie takes some weird turns, like when Prok hires his first assistant Clyde (Sarsgaard, who I usually like but for some reason acts better in independent films) and the two begin to have a homosexual relationship. At one point, Clyde even has sex with Mac. Eventually Kinsey recruits two other assistants
  (Hutton & O'Donnel, both great) and so on. As I said the movie is well told, entertaining throughout. Not only is the movie interesting, but the lessons Kinsey (Neeson) teaches in the movie are interesting too. A few scenes had me busting up laughing (think the mexican guy. "It's true, I had sex with pony. How'd you know). Some of the things discussed in the movie are cringe worthy, when they discuss subjects like child molestation and beastiality but whatever. A-...more info
• 2.5 stars out of 4
  The Bottom Line:
  
  Though it deserves praise for tackling such a risque subject, Kinsey ultimately fails as a movie (despite several sterling performances) due to its utter reluctance to rise above a completely formulaic, Biopic 101, narrative thrust....more info
• What About Love? a Man Who Used Bad Science to "Prove" Lies
  Too bad I cannot give this movie a 0 star.
  
  How can we sit back and approve a movie about a horrible human being like Kinsey?
  How can Hollywood create such a movie. First Larry Flint, and now Kinsey. Sheesh!
  
  Kinsey's theories and his life are evil on the same level that Hilter's theories about the Jews and his life were evil.
  
  As other reviewers have noted, Kinsey was not alone in what he was trying to do, in separating sex from love, commitment, childbearing, and decency, taking a set of God-given feelings out of their natural and human-relationship-building context.
  
  Even though he was not the first, Kinsey's psuedo-science was used to justify many a seduction by many a man seeking to get a woman to bed without loving her. His false science has been used to "prove" a prevalence of homosexuality that in fact does not exist and to "prove" to many a predatory male that his seduction of a child is a good and natural thing.
  
  Alfred Kinsey is behind the priest pedophile scandal in the Catholic Church, because the bishops believed the sex experts. And the priest pedophile's believed Kinsey and his ilk. Why is a society that believes in Kinsey's theories so angry about the priest pedophiles? They were only doing what Kinsey taught is a good and natural thing. After all the outrage, I would think that the proponents of child sexual exploitation would lie low for a while. But instead, Hollywood makes a movie about the man that started it all.
  
  Alfred Kinsey is behind the justification of psychologists in journals that I have read that say the only harm that comes to children who are sexually molested by adults is when the mothers discover the molestation and make a fuss. Alfred Kinsey is behind the huge change in this society, and it is not a good change.
  
  Dr. Judith Reisman, Ph.D., has publicized the fact that 86% of Kinsey's so-called normal subjects were really pedophiles, convicts, and pimps. His "findings" from this class of perverts have been used to normalize behaviors that are rank and abnormal.
  
  It's a sin and a shame.
  
  Any of you reading this might be startled to hear about the world before Kinsey. People used to marry and then make love and set up housekeeping together. Divorce was so uncommon it was a scandal. Everyone agreed it was wrong to leave a husband or wife for someone new.
  
  Young women and men didn't get turned out en masse to emotionless sex at an early age, and they didn't have to face the pain of going through one "relationship" after another somehow hoping that love could be created out of using. They didn't marry after years of indecision about whether their live-in mate was the "right" person, and they didn't marry thinking that divorce was an easy out if something or someone better came along.
  
  Of course, the worst thing is Kinsey's "data" collection about child sexuality. Instead of turning in a man who sexually abused thousands of children, Kinsey eagerly collected his data about that pervert's inducing orgasms--even in babies.
  
  This man deserves a movie glorifying his life? What kind of a world are we living in?...more info
• with a hint of prudishness, this is far better than I expected
  "Kinsey" is the story of Alfred Kinsey, the very controversial sex researcher of the 1950's. At a time when the only sex education that was being taught was abstinence and only in a general health class, Dr. Kinsey was feeling the lack of information and that amount of rubbish that was being taught as fact. People just didn't have any information about sex, who does it, who does what, what is permissible, and what is possible. His interest in the subject came because of some sexual issues early in his marriage and his need as scientist to know the solution. There is also a deep undercurrent of sexual repression from his father.
  
  Dr. Kinsey initially starts to advise some of his science students and then more and more start coming to him and Dr. Kinsey inquires about a sexual education class that could be held at his University. He also begins an exhaustive study (pun intended) into the sexual behavior of human males with a follow up study on females to come later. Any question that could be asked is asked and the findings are shocking to many, though not likely shocking to today's audience.
  
  My expectation for the movie that it would be start to finish sex and nudity. I think this is from some of the negative, one sided reviews that portrayed this movie through a certain moral lens. It isn't. The movie is filled with talk about sex, and as it should be considering the subject. There is sex and nudity, though not nearly as much as one would expect. While there is a good deal of sex as the movie progresses, it is far less revealing than it could have been.
  
  The real surprise that I had was that this was a good movie, better than I had anticipated. I was all ready to dislike the movie and I couldn't. Well made, well told, and while it does celebrate Kinsey and his work (ending with a woman telling an older Kinsey that his work saved her life and helped her to have a healthy relationship with another woman), "Kinsey" does not hide his faults, obsessions, and uncomfortable beliefs (such as that there is nothing wrong or immoral about pedophilia). The film shows the great strides Dr. Kinsey helped America take in sexual education even when America wasn't truly ready, but doesn't hide the negative.
  
  -Joe Sherry...more info
• Top Notch Cast, Top Movie
  Initially, I thought the movie is about shock value. The catchphrase of the movie is, "Kinsey: Let's Talk About Sex", is it not? However, the movie turns out to be anything but. It shows Kinsey (plays brilliantly by the underrated Liam Neeson) as a Professor obsessed with wasp only to shift his attention to sex later as he discovers that many people have misconceptions about the very same topic. As the movie would divulge to us, his motivation is due to his own difficulty in fulfilling his marital vow in the very beginning. Anyway, Kinsey is best described as "Dr Spock" from Star Treks, where everything needs to be logical, measurable and thus, the definition of it being science. He is joined by his understudies (all top rated actors in the form of Chris O'Donnell, Timothy Hutton, Skaasgard) and for some viewers, they might find it repulsive to have their own sexual activities been monitored in the name of studying sexual behaviour and their abilities to segregate between love and sex. In the first phase, he's supported by his university Head (Oliver Platt) and yet, he also has a strong opposition from another Professor in the form of Tim Curry. Last but not least, the movie also reveals to us the estranged relationship between Kinsey and his father (John Lithgow who shows us his versatility to play a dramatic role) and how they reconcile with one another in the end. The movie carries on until the latter stage of his life when support for Kinsey wanes and McCarthy's phobia on communism brings on the heat preventing Rockefeller Foundation from continuing on their support on Kinsey's research. Still, one true thing remains, his staunch and supportive wife who continuously loving him till the very end (Laura Linney). A gentle and tender movie that tries to be even-footed. This is THE movie that enables us to see how much USA has evolved over the half century. What used to be a no-no is now a common thing where people talk about sex openly as we can see in young people's MTV and TV programs such as Sex & The City and Desperate Wives. I wish I get the 2 Disc edition in order to study more about Kinsey but this one disc edition is simply a movie and a movie only. Highly recommended and you won't be disappointed...more info
• Life and limbido without checks and balances
  I have a problem with the fundamental theme of this movie (and the original KINSEY report on sexual behaviour upon which it is based). The presupposition that sexual drives are what motivates all human behavior is simplistic, naive' and wrong. If this were true, wars could be stopped by the diplomatic intervention of Pamela Sue Anderson, and every television commercial would feature the "Solid Gold" or "Chippendale" dancers. Perhaps sexual orientation and motivation are a subtext in many (if not most) lives. But if our society is as vapid and horny as "Kinsey" would believe, God save us all from an anarchy of orgy.
  
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• One brave man living among puritans
  The first word that comes to my head about this film, is how brave Kinsey was, talking about sex in America in 50's....
  
  Apart from the fact that as a person I think he was an example of living wiht our own fears and try to superate them, I think that the film it's really good. The director must be also a brave man, because the world of today seems to be almost like in 50's when we talk about sex.
  I think that Condon has made a very good job, it is quite elegant, he talks about everything and shows everything he can.
  Liam Neeson makes a brilliant performance, because at the end of the film you think about Kinsey as a really scientist, but very human as well.
  Laura Linney is also great, but her role is not so well constructed I think.
  A great soundtrack too. I recomend this film to everyone. Elegant, brave and makes you think about you own fears and bravery.
  
  ...more info
• Puritan Buster
  `Kinsey', a film that tells the story of sex researcher Dr. Alfred Kinsey, will like most films of controversial characters from recent history, affect its viewers largely according to how they come down on the controversy. In this case, the controversy is between those who identify most closely with the late sexual revolution and those in the camp of the ongoing counter sexual revolution. As this film has a highly sympathetic take on Kinsey's story, those counter revolutionaries are best advised to avoid it, unless they wish to use it to work themselves into righteous outrages. Those like me, whose sympathies lie with the spirit of the sexual revolution will find not outrage, but a fine film.
  
  The film deftly weaves together Kinsey's personal and professional lives, showing one as the natural extension of the other. Much of his motivation is explained through two important family relationships - his rejection of his father, portrayed here by John Lithgow as an insufferably puritanical prig, and his extraordinary, unorthodox marriage partnership with a remarkable, free thinking woman, a role played superbly by Laura Linney (who deserved to win the best actress Oscar for which she was nominated). Liam Neeson played Kinsey as obsessively focused and driven, often domineering, and nearly evangelical in his quest to liberate sexuality from the darkness of Puritanism and prudishness into the light of pure science. It is through his relationships with his family that he emerges as such a sympathetic character. Even his research assistants are shown as becoming a sort of extended family to him, continuing that theme.
  
  The film does not present Kinsey as a faultless hero. He is portrayed as sometimes so obsessed with his quest as to become myopic; unable to foresee how his research would release certain raging wild fires into a society long accustomed to the restrains of Puritan social mores. It even touches on the possibility of irregularities within his research, but here it is shown as a small problem easily overcome rather than the overwhelming fault that would discredit the entirety of the man and his research as his detractors like to imagine. But these faults humanize rather than destroy the legend of a man who dedicated his life to bringing rationality to human sexuality.
  
  Scattered throughout the film are several devices used to tell the story, including flashbacks and black and white footage of practice interviews Kinsey conducted with his researchers, but despite this, the film still flows along nicely. In addition to the outstanding leads of Neeson and Linney, the supporting roles are strong, including a notable performance from Peter Sarsgaard as Kinsey's principle research assistant. It is a good tale, and a fine film, and has my recommendation.
  
  Theo Logos
  ...more info
• An eyebrow-raising, head turning film that will leave you speechless...
  It's funny to me that in the year that has been labeled `the year of the biopic' it was the better of them all that was shunned by Oscar. Sure, `Kinsey' is a very blunt and somewhat offensive biopic, but it is one of the better crafted and superbly constructed of the many that were dropped on us in 2004. It is superior to `Finding Neverland' in the acting department; it is superior to `The Aviator' is its ability to grasp the sense of character and it is superior to `Ray' in its technical construction, allowing the audience to delve into Alfred Kinsey without hesitation. The three aforementioned films all received a Best Picture nomination at the 2004 Oscars, and while I can't say that I would have nominated any of these films in that category (such a strong year fro film) I can honestly say that `Kinsey' is the better film overall*.
  
  The film tells the story of Alfred Kinsey, a professor who indulged his own sensual cravings by creating a study of human sensuality (it's really hard to write a review about this film when the most harmless of descriptive words can get your review banned). His strict religious parents are much apposed to his lifestyle but this doesn't stop him from exploring a subject that so many see as taboo. Enlisting the help of some eager young students (not to mention his understanding yet suppressed wife Clara) Kinsey interviews thousands of men and women for his study, asking very frank yet very pertinent questions.
  
  The film is much more than a film about sensuality, it is a film about humanity and the blinders that some of us put up in order to justify our passions. As Kinsey pushes forward with his study he begins to push those around him away as the emotionally destructive course they set for themselves begins to crush in around them. Kinsey finds himself unaffected by the emotional weight, but he cannot help but be affected by the distance between himself and lovers.
  
  Liam Neeson is outstanding as Kinsey, devouring whole this mans every inhibition. He delivers one of the strongest performances of the year, so strong that it baffles me Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio and especially Johnny Depp received Oscar nominations over Neeson. His sincerity and honesty is seen all over his face as the weight of his project begins to sink in. Laura Linney (the sole Oscar nominee in the bunch) is very good here, if not a bit overrated. I hate saying this, because she is lovely, but she is not the films standout. She delivers a relatable and likable performance, but she tends to float out of focus when sharing the screen with the films other stars. Chris O'Donnell actually turns out a very good performance, as does John Lithgow (who just shines with all sorts of blessed light) who portrays Alfred's father with tremendous power. Oliver Platt and Tim Curry and Timothy Hutton all take their limited roles and make them bigger than they really are...
  
  ...but I want to take a few minutes to bask in the greatness that is Peter Sarsgaard. I mean, seriously, this young man may be the actor of our generation. Every performance he has delivered has been strong and admirable, and yet the Academy still insists on snubbing him (from `Boys Don't Cry' to `Shattered Glass' to `Kinsey' and `Jarhead' this young man should be a four time nominee at this point). His portrayal of Kinsey's lapdog Clyde is phenomenal. His lusting for Kinsey is desirable and believable; his tenderness as a friend and lover is endearing and his frustrated feeling of betrayal is heartbreaking. He delivers such a well rounded and grounded performance that I am ashamed he was snubbed come Oscar time.
  
  And then there is his "would you like to?" line to Kinsey in the hotel room; the single greatest line reading of the entire year. That scene took my breath away, and that is not too easy to do.
  
  `Kinsey' is a very blunt film. There are a lot of conversations and graphic depictions that may turn some heads and leave you feeling a little offended (there is one particular interview, one for which Wardell actually gets up and leaves, that left me feeling quite uneasy). If you can look past the films in-your-face qualities though, you can see the beauty that lies within each frame. This is one of those biopic's that gets it all right and delivers a truly satisfying and memorable movie experience.
  
  *Looking back over my reviews I noticed that I gave some pretty high ratings to the three Oscar nominated biopic's, none of which really deserved the love I showered on them. I gave `Finding Neverland' an A, which is quite extreme. I am not really hating myself for it (it is a children's biopic, and a very sweet family film) but it doesn't deserve five stars, maybe four would be better. I gave both `Ray' and `The Aviator' four stars, and both probably deserve three, especially `Ray' which only gets worse every time I see it. I'd give `The Aviator' a low B, so it keeps its four stars, and `Ray' a C, so I'd like to drop the rating to three stars. I can't, but I'd like to....more info
• To Some a Hero, To Others a Villain...
  but it can't be denied that Dr. Alfred Kinsey made some important contributions in our understanding of Sexuality. This movie probably glosses over and rounds off some of the hard edges of the man and his work.
  
  Liam Neeson and Laura Linney play their parts superbly. What struck me the most about this film was the way Kinsey doggedly and dogmatically went about his research-perfecting it in every way as the years went by. His first volume "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" was probably accepted better than his follow-up "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female" because America was a little more apt to admit that the men were, well just being men. But when histories came out about women, it was shocking and scandalous. I mean, didn't people think that females were so very different than men? While I do believe there are subtle nuances between the two sexes, I think we are probably more alike than we like to admit, whether in 1948 or 2008.
  
  If Kinsey pushed the door open half-way with his work, the sexual revolution of the 1960's and the discovery of the birth control pill smashed it to pieces. And where are we today? I think it is a mixed bag. Certainly to be more comfortable with our bodies, feelings etc., is a good thing. Also the obnoxious moralizing from the Victorian era is largely a thing of the past. By and large we seem more comfortable with ourselves. We now know of the agendas of the closed-minded people who claimed to speak under the seal and shield of God and did so with authoritarian bigotry and for the most part, impunity.
  
  Yet we still exploit sex and do it more than we ever have. We act as if it is not that big a deal and thereby trivialize it. If there is anything to learn from the film and from Kinsey himself, it's that the controls must come from inside. No attempt to legislate, engender guilt or shame, or any other force without is ultimately successful. Sex can greatly and supremely enhance a person's life or destroy it.
  
  With Kinsey, science met humanity and it seemed a perfect marriage. Yet, it still left some residual discomfort that is being felt to this day. I think this movie says to us, "Don't shoot the messenger." Kinsey simply shed light on a 'taboo' subject. Was his research skewed? That is argued to this day. Was it mostly accurate? I would say probably yes. But ultimately, can we ever know with any certainty what goes on in our neighbor's head/bedrooms?
  
  Kinsey's work probably appealed to the voyeur inherent in a lot of people. I am sure it liberated some people who desparately needed it. In other cases I think it probably gave a certain 'license' to those who live on the fringe of society such as sex abusers, the emotionally unstable, and the libertine. But with an atmosphere that was present in the late 1800's and early 1900's, who can blame everyday people for wanting to throw off the shackles of igornance and Puritanism? Doctors-men of science dispensed some of the most idiotic and dangerous advice under the guise of keeping people 'pure.' Today, all but the most ignorant and rabid fundamentalists accept the role of sex in a well-rounded person.
  
  When viewing this movie, remember the context and the frame of time in which it was set. In some ways it is charmingly naive, and in others very frank and 'in your face.' As Kinsey said, "Love is the ultimate answer, but in the meantime, sex raises some very interesting questions." Yes, indeed. ...more info
• Back When Sex Was A Four-Letter Word
  There was a time in America---and not just in the Bible Belt---when people didn't talk about sex, and if they did, they routinely lied about certain things out of fear of ridicule and abnormality. Masturbation, intercourse with small animals, tongasaming your boyfriend's best friend...it was all hush-hush. Wait. Huh. Actually that time sounds a lot like nowadays. Anyway, though, insofar as society has changed, much of the credit for the country's sexual great awakening can be traced back to the work of one pioneering academic, the fearless, mild-mannered, bowtie-clad Alfred Kinsey.
  
  Bill Condom's, I mean, Condon's well-made Kinsey is one of those biopics that tells the truth but leaves out enough selective facts to come off as more than a little disingenuous. (For instance, ever read about Kinsey's research into sex responses in infants? Well you won't hear about it in this film.) Liam Neeson and the great Laura Linney do expectedly well here, and I think Neeson's portrayal of the scholarly Kinsey nailed the man to a T (based on everything I've read about him). Chris "Please Don't Call Me Robin" O'Donnell took a bullet for the team and placed a passionate half-minute-long liplock on Neeson, his onscreen mentor, and also bravely bared his dingle, showing men of small stature everywhere that it's OK to be a good-looking guy with a small caliber tool. In fact, "it's OK to be you...and to go have sex while you're at...then talk about the sex" pretty much sums up Kinsey the man and Kinsey the movie.
  
  Go see this thing. It's not your typical boring old getting to know you chit-chat of a sex flick.
  ...more info
• It's all about sex, stupid
  In 1948 Alfred Kinsey (Liam Neeson), a Harvard-educated zoologist and teacher at Indiana University, wrote the first and only in-depth study of American sexual behavior "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male." It was a huge best-seller and opened the door to the truth behind sexuality that had for so long been hidden by puritanical forces in the government and the pulpit. It also caused problems in Kinsey's own life once he published its companion piece, "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female." He also created the famous Kinsey scale that rates sexual orientation: 0 being exclusively heterosexual and 6 being exclusively homosexual with all matter of bi-sexuality in between.
  
  The film "Kinsey" is a tribute to the man who single-handedly brought sexuality kicking and screaming into the 20th Century. It is also a humorous and detailed study into Kinsey's life and how he pioneered the first in-depth study of sexuality in humans.
  
  The film begins with Kinsey's formative years. The son of a domineering Methodist who decries anything that has to do remotely with sex, Kinsey found freedom in the great outdoors, studying animals and insects. As a zoologist specializing in the study of gall wasps, Kinsey is hired to teach biology at Indiana University where he marries a freethinking female student, Clara McMillen (Laura Linney, "Mystic River," "Love Actually").
  
  "Human beings are just bigger, more complicated gall wasps," he says.
  In the course of his teaching he finds himself confronted by a newly married student couple with sexual problems. She thinks she's frigid and her husband is afraid to pleasure her orally because he read somewhere that it will make her sterile.
  
  As Kinsey discovers other students with similar problems he realizes no one has ever done the proper clinical research to answer their questions properly, so he decides to be the first to explore sex from a scientific point of view. He recruits a team of researchers from the student body and they invent an interviewing technique which helps people deal with the shame and guilt they've been taught to feel when they discuss sex.
  
  The original study is more than a hit, it's an explosion, which the press compares with the dropping of the atomic bomb. Unfortunately, his follow-up study on women, written later during the Cold War, is seen as an attack on motherhood and family values, causing Kinsey to be ostracized by those who championed the first study.
  
  At the same time, his researchers begin to question his idea that sex for humans should be no different than it is for animals. No guilt, no shame, just sex. The film tells us that Kinsey not only pioneered the study of sex, but used his young researchers and their mates as sexual guinea pigs to help the studies along.
  There is one unsettling scene where Kinsey interviews a man who has spent ten years compiling his own survey of sexual proclivities. The man claimed to have slept with 8,412 people, members of his own family, animals and 636 pre-adolescents, yet Kinsey, preparing his third book on sex offenders, takes it all in stride, fascinated by how far people will go for sexual gratification.
  
  Peter Sarsgaard ("Shattered Glass") plays Clyde Martin, Kinsey's chief researcher and occasional lover. He gets upset when he realizes that more trouble comes from wife-swapping than Kinsey has ever suggested.
  
  Neeson is excellent as the researcher who did so much to awaken the collective libido of America to the potential of sexual experience, yet couldn't come to grips with his own sexual impulses.
  
  Neeson is excellent as the researcher who did so much to awaken the collective libido of America to the potential of sexual experience, yet couldn't come to grips with his own sexual impulses.
  
  Laura Linney ("Love Actually," "Mystic River") is a delight as his wife Clara who stands by him through everything, even when she finds out he has had a homosexual affair with Clyde Martin.
  
  The rest of the cast is equally good, with John Lithgow solid as Kinsey's pious father and Timothy Hutton and Chris O'Donnell fine as the two other researchers, Paul Gebhard and Wardell Pomeroy.
  
  Writer/Director Bill Condon ("Gods and Monsters") has fashioned a strong and thoughtful film with "Kinsey." He keeps the action moving with visual techniques such as Kinsey's famous sex interviews and montages to help tell the story and gets quality performances from all his actors.
  
  Richard Sherman's production design captures the look of the 1940s and `50s through clothing, old television shows, magazine covers and automobiles, while cinematographer Frederick Elmes ("Coffee and Cigarettes," "Hulk") does a brilliant job of bringing both Kinsey's childhood and the collegiate atmosphere of Indiana University, where Kinsey compiled his survey, to life.
  
  
  In the end, after he has fought ill health, lost his grant money and is in real trouble, he muses on his apparent inability to deal with the connections between sex and love.
  "It's impossible to measure love," he says. "When it comes to love we're all in the dark."
  
  "Kinsey" is a powerful film that explores something that we are bombarded with every day, but still seem to be ignorant of ... sex. It shines the bright light of truth on the varieties of human sexual behavior that many of us are still afraid to acknowledge.
  
  [...]...more info
• What happened?
  In the last 20 or so years Kinsey's work has been the subject of a lot of investigation.
  
  The main cause for concern is Kinsey's documentation of orgasms in very young children. His works include data on more than 400 children, ranging from 5 months old to late teens.
  
  He reported that children under the age of one could achieve orgasm (yes, he used that word) with the assistance of a partner.
  
  Kinsey deduced that these babies were having orgasms because of "violent cries", "sobbing", and an "abundance of tears". This was all reported as if it were fact (never mind the child abuse). Yes, interfering with a child makes the child cry.
  
  And Kinsey's alarming conclusions about these cries being indicative of orgasm are not in any way examined by this film.
  
  Neither is the fact that at best he could have only gleaned this information from pedophiles, many of whom remained active and continued to report back to Kinsey.
  
  It would be best here not to jump to Kinsey's defense, as if he were some wronged hero of sexual truth and liberation. It would be best if a few more people got a grip of themselves and asked, "What exactly was going on when Kinsey reported that hundreds of children and babies were having orgasms with the help of partners?"
  ...more info
• Bill Condon's "Kinsey" vs. T.C. Boyle's "The Inner Circle"
  This review discusses: The content of T.C. Boyle's 2004 novel "The Inner Circle," the performance of it by Richard Kramer (the book on tape), and Bill Condon's 2004 film, "Kinsey."
  
  Given that both Boyle and Condon each fictionalized their own accounts of famed sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, it is surprising how similar "The Inner Circle" and "Kinsey" are. The film is a Cliffs Notes version, while the book more thoroughly chronicles Kinsey's beginnings as a biologist studying gall wasps to eventually becoming an international celebrity with his groundbreaking work in sex research. Boyle, who has approximately 400 pages to cover the subject, gives a much more detailed account than Condon, who only had the space of a 2-hour film. But Condon still manages to include a lot of the same highlights Boyle hits upon regarding Kinsey's research and his struggle to get it. Both the book and film pick out important aspects of Kinsey's research like talking to prostitutes, his interviewing techniques to gather sexual histories, talking to child molesters, etc. Both works also address his sexual relationships with his three male research assistants.
  
  Though similar, Boyle and Condon do present much different pictures of Kinsey. Boyle tells his story via the fictional John Milk, a virginal college student who becomes Kinsey's first assistant, and so this portrayal is almost God-like, as it is told through the eyes of a young protege who sees Kinsey as a daring scientist. The film, however, speaks omnisciently, better showing Kinsey's fragilities and even portraying Kinsey's slight sex shyness (while in the book Kinsey has no sexual hesitation at all). Kinsey's wife, "Mac," comes off as loose and carefree in the book; in the film, she is tightly wound, nervous, and more concerned with conforming with the conservative society around her. In the book, Kinsey's first research assistant, Milk, is curious about and inexperienced with sex; in the film, the equivalent character is sexually adventurous and promiscuous from the get-go. In the book, Kinsey and Milk till a garden in the nude; in the film, they merely go shirtless.
  
  For a basic and rough intro of Kinsey, see the film, "Kinsey." In addition to the film's history lesson, film lovers will enjoy two very fine performances by Liam Neeson (as Kinsey) and Laura Linney (as Kinsey's wife, "Mac."). For a more thorough look, read the book, "The Inner Circle." If you are considering listening to the book on tape, a warning: Richard Kramer's performance is a bit monotonous. Yes, the character John Milk, who is narrating, is supposed to be mild-mannered, but Kramer's reading is a bit dead. I really think that T.C. Boyle himself should have read for the audiobook (I've seen him read from "The Inner Circle," and he breathes life into it.)
  
  Overall, "The Inner Circle" is lackluster compared to Boyle's other works. It does a good job of telling history (a fictionalized version), but lacks the usual momentum of Boyle's page-turning style. The characters are a bit flat and unmemorable. Nonetheless it's clearly written the way Boyle writes. Expect his lucid narrative, his New Yorker-magazine-like vocabulary (i.e. succurus, insouciant, macaroni et formage), and his chapter/section endings that leave you in suspense.
  
  I saw the film "Kinsey" on the single-disc DVD. Let me tell you there are absolutely no special features on it, just the director commentary. Not even the trailer is on it! There's only a preview for an Orlando Bloom/Liam Neeson film, and you can watch the film with English or SPanish subtitles, and audio track in Spanish or English 5.1 or English DTS. The producers, wickedly so, also released a two-disc special edition DVD the same time as the single disc. The special edition has loads of special features. So if you're not sure if you'll end up loving the film, you might want to rent it first, and then if you love it, buy the 2-disc edition. Otherwise if you buy the single disc first and then want a bit more, you might end up with both editions just to see some special features!
  
  My Overall Ratings:
  "The Inner Circle" book by T.C. Boyle ***1/2 (of 5).
  "Kinsey" film directed by Bill Condon *** (of 5)
  "Kinsey" single-disc DVD special features * (of 5)
  "The Inner Circle" book on 10 audiocassettes, read by Richard Kramer ***...more info
• Two-Disc DVD Set Showcases How the Sexual Revolution Began in a Fascinating Biopic
  Since its publication sixty years ago, the first Kinsey Report (real title: Sexual Behavior in the Human Male) has taken on mythic proportions for its groundbreaking look at never-before-examined human sexual habits. Dr. Alfred Kinsey is certainly worthy of a film biopic, and writer-director Bill Condon embraces the idea with a healthy respect for his subject, a strong sense of period atmosphere, and the same wry sense of humor he displayed in his fanciful James Whale tale, Gods and Monsters. Condon effectively uses as a black-and-white framing device, the preparation for the interview process by which Kinsey and his staff surveyed people about their sexual habits. The director shows how Kinsey painstakingly teaches his research team how to get their hundreds of interview subjects to open up and speak freely about their sexual histories and as a result, revolutionized the way we think about sex. The 2004 film doesn't shy away from the double standards that exist to this day regarding the candor and explicitness of Kinsey's findings.
  
  What resonates most is how Kinsey strove to break down barriers and taboos and social conventions, while continuing to be a flashpoint for the religious right as the instigator of the sexual revolution and the downfall of morality. The acting by the two leads is superb and unexpected. Liam Neeson gives a fierce and fearless performance in the title role, an obsessive-compulsive biologist who doesn't bat an eyelash when he translates the methodology he used in studying gall wasps into his forbidding survey of human sexuality. Neeson pitches his characterization between eccentric and megalomaniac and lets the doctor's maddening genius pour out of him without caution. As his plainspoken wife, Clara McMillen, Laura Linney imbues what could have been a passive role with a searching intelligence as she willingly stands by her brilliant husband but not without injecting her own sensibilities into their marriage. She and Neeson manage a terrific rapport based on a mutual respect and intellectual fascination. They play out their first sexual experience with honesty and conviction, though truthfully, both are way too long in the tooth to be credible as college students early in the story.
  
  Peter Sarsgaard gives a subtle, often incisive portrayal of Clyde Martin, the bisexual researcher who successfully seduces both Kinsey and his wife but ultimately falters when he marries and finds his wife cheating on him. As Clyde's fellow research colleagues, Chris O'Donnell is the swaggering Wardell Pomeroy and Timothy Hutton is the slick, mustachioed Paul Gebhard, but neither leaves that much of an impression since their characters are designed as male archetypes rather than full-blooded characters. Oliver Platt plays his usually facile, comic self as Kinsey's one consistent supporter, Indiana University president Herman Wells, especially when Kinsey's work became too notorious for public figures to become sponsors or even to associate with him. Tim Curry seems to be making fun of his own Rocky Horror past by playing an uptight professor jealous of Kinsey's success. In little more than cameo roles that turn into memorable turns, the film includes William Sadler as a sexual satyr, John McMartin as philanthropist Huntington Hartford and Lynn Redgrave as a lesbian thankful to Kinsey for his research.
  
  The one presumptive flaw of the film is the expectation that the viewer is already aware of the full historical context of Kinsey's work. More exposition would have been helpful. The weakest scenes, however, are the predictably drawn flashbacks to Kinsey's childhood, when he experienced an unfulfilled crush on an Eagle Scout, masturbated in shame, and eventually left home in rebellion against a brutally puritanical father. The father is played with fire-and-brimstone fury by John Lithgow, who seems to be channeling the same role he played in Footloose twenty years ago. The scene where he reveals his own sexual secrets years later with his son seems particularly contrived. The film also falters somewhat during the darker denouement after Kinsey falls ill. Regardless, the primary story is successful in stirring passion and sparking debate just exactly Kinsey would have wanted.
  
  The two-disc 2005 DVD set offers solid extras. Disc One provides the film along with an optional commentary from Condon. He is informative without being pedantic about not only the topic, especially the inhibitions that exist to this day about sex, but also the complexities of the production. The centerpiece of Disc Two is the ninety-minute documentary, "The Kinsey Report: Sex on Film". It is admittedly comprehensive delving into specifics about Kinsey, his research institute, the production, and of course, sex. There are 21 deleted scenes, some quite fascinating, that amount to the length of a second film. Also included are a brief gag reel, theatrical and teaser trailers for the movie, a tour of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, and a 45-question interactive sex questionnaire. Highly recommended despite its flaws for anyone interested in how the so-called sexual revolution started....more info
• Interesting and informative
  Watching this film, I couldn't help but wonder if people really were that ignorant so not very long ago. It just seems so odd and unbelievable. But maybe because I didn't grow up that way, in that prudish time. It also seems to me, that if it were not for this man Kinsey, then alot of people would have remained igonrant for quite a while. Liam Neeson is unabashed and perfect for this role. He loses himself in it and its quite believable. Laura Linney is also quite good as his faithful and understanding wife. They really make it work onscreen. Because of them, it makes the film watchable because, though the topic is somewhat risk¨¦, the movie is a bit dull at times. But those actors really shine and because of that, I was still able to enjoy the film and get a good sense of who Kinsey was and what it was like during that era. ...more info
• Movie is a hit!
  I was really looking forward to viewing this film. I was not disappointed. The product came as promised and the price was tough to beat. As for the movie content, it is tremendously life-altering and emotional. ...more info
• Another Hero of the Left!
  Janice Shaw is typical of those who have problems with Kinsey. She writes, "The most-egregious aspect of Kinsey's methodology was his use of children as subjects. He used over 300 children, including babies, in his studies of female orgasm. Some critics legitimately accuse Kinsey of child molestation. The American Board of Pediatrics argues that his data are not the norm; that he used unnatural stimulation and, even then, did not prove his point. Using pedophiles, he charted the length and frequency of infants' and children's supposed "orgasms." When questioned about how he knew whether a baby had an orgasm, he said he measured by their crying. Five of these infants and children were subjects for months or years, and it is reported that much of the "testing" occurred when they were either strapped or held down. There is no evidence that the institute followed up to see whether they were adversely affected as a result of this sexual abuse/experimentation. We do know that today many of the adult "subjects" refuse to discuss Kinsey's research; some 50 years later, they don't even want to talk about the horrific experience."
  
  But this film shows us that he can be still worshipped as another liberal hero! I mean, who cares about all that child abuse stuff? Most viewers will not even hear about it in the film, and rightly so. Why sully his name? The important thing is, like Hitler's scientists who performed those gruesome human experiments, Kinsey DARED to follow his militant atheism and its implications for life. After all, who cares about someone else's babies being abused? They're not his own genes, not his legacy. And what is the purpose of life? To help your fellow man? Pshaw! Kinsey saw through all that. You're just here for, what, 80 years? What better way to spend it than in self-gratification?
  
  These silly prudes who still complain about his child abuse are just not seeing things clearly. Kinsey opened the floodgates to teen sexual activity and its attendant disease and psychological trauma - but for OTHER families, competitors in the Darwinian struggle for survival. He is therefore a Darwinist of the highest order, just like Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, whose stated mission in life was to reduce the number of Asians and Africans, who she considered sub-human....more info
• Excellent Topic, Good Movie
  Kinsey, the man, is a fascinating character. Also fascinating are the depictions of a world not-too-long past where sexuality was taboo, and everyone was pretty much "in the closet" as regards that part of life. This movie provides an excellent opportunity to reflect on how this modern world, with the drawbacks it undoubtedly has, is at least blessed in that we can be more open and honest about these most basic and human topics. It gives us a chance to thank the people who made such a transition possible, and enlarge the scope of tolerance.
  
  I am glad for this movie. It had to be made.
  
  However, the execution of the film leaves a little something to be desired. Not the acting--the acting is fine. But (and whether it happened in the writing or the directing or editing room, I don't know), the movie itself is all over the place. There are needless flashbacks, and needless black and white sequences, and the pacing is inconsistent. Also, there seems to be no climax (pun unintended). The movie just sort of ends, without answering the questions that it appears to ask. Instead of being one film with beginning, middle and end, Kinsey appears to be a string of vignettes revolving around the man and his work. It is as though the creator of the film knew that there was a great story here to be told, but was a little unclear about *what*, exactly, that story was, or how to frame it.
  
  This movie is highly recommended for its subject and political/philosophical value, and is perfect for anything that will lead to discussions (like a movie group, or something), but as cinematic art--as storytelling--it leaves a few things to be desired....more info
• Don't believe the hype
  Want to see ugly people have awkward sex? And listen to them chat about it in endless, clinical fashion when they're not engaging in it? Well friends, do I have a drawn-out, fake-bio for you! Like many Hollywood movies today, it strives to make a hero out of a guy who really wasn't. Liam Neeson portrays Alfred Kinsey, the researcher who wrote the famous human sexuality books in the 40s. The writers of the film would have you believe people were not enjoying or speaking about sex until Kinsey was brave enough to write about. That seems a bit specious, especially since my great-grandparents owned a thriving sex shop on Nantucket in the 30s... I think... maybe it was a cheese shop. Anyway, Kinsey was just a nerdy, pervy guy who enjoyed interviewing people about their sexual positions and proclivities and writing boring tomes about his findings - a good job if you can get a major university to fund it. The film tried unsuccessfully to be both cute and serious, but did succeed in being long, predictable and unsightly. Now I could be wrong, but I'm pretty certain not everyone was startlingly homely in the olden day, but geez Louise, the casting agent for this over-hyped dud made sure to fill the film with a bunch of serious ugs (check out all his assistant's wives... yikes!). Kinsey's lovin' scenes with a dowdy Laura Linney are brutal (and at times, meant to be) and the following is not a spoiler, but a warning: the make-out session between ol' Qui-Gon Jinn and his assistant played by Peter Sarsgaard (one of the best actors around today) may be the most unsexy, uncomfortable lip-locking session ever....more info