Kinsey

[Carla]

Has anyone else seen Kinsey? I saw it on Christmas day and thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, I think it is my favorite movie of 2004.

Here is Scott Holleran's review of it at Box Office Mojo. It's also on CapMag. I don't always agree with Mr. Holleran's reivews, but I thought he was spot-on in this one. Here's an excerpt:

He remains single-minded in his view that sex ought to be examined, an obsession which Kinsey dramatizes in sumptuous detail. Whether scribbling a numerical sex scale—on which he rates his own homosexual tendency—on a memo pad after visiting a gay bar or facing a pedophile who distorts his ideas, the professor acts on principle.

...

Lacking a consistent philosophy of sex, Kinsey makes mistakes and Condon shows them, too, but he presents Kinsey's life in essential terms, portraying one man's dedication to his work as a triumph, not a tragedy.

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Besides Linney as sturdy Mrs. Kinsey, an exceptional cast matches Mr. Neeson, whose act as the spiky-haired sex researcher is the year's best by a mile.

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Because he portrays the pursuit of knowledge as a noble cause and he telescopes it into a single human life, Condon's idealized Kinsey is something of a masterpiece.

I don't know anything about the real Kinsey, but that doesn't matter. This film would be just as good if it were entirely fictional. The acting is superb--Neeson is extremely appealing, and the supporting actors "melt" into their roles. The plot is, perhaps inevitably, engaging, but more importantly, the story is told very well. There are no loose ends, no moments of over-exposition or boredom, and none of the all-too-common, modern penchant for deconstructed storytelling. Finally, the predominant themes of the movie are overwhelmingly life-affirming. I'd highly recommend this movie to all Objectivists.