Customer Reviews
Neeson shines again - By: Hugh Garske, 27 Jul 2008 
A brilliant scientific mind and/or a sexual deviant? However you feel about Kinsey, he opened up a subject that was at the time publicly unapproachable & educated people. One cannot ask more of a scholar.
Bringing to life a movie solely about a man who initiallly spent his career studying insects was always going to be a big ask but Liam Neeson once again struts his stuff & consumes his character as does Laura Linney. Peter Sarsgaard provides another excellent support role, & pulls off a rather courageous scene which one doesn't see very often.
An excellent biography.
Lacking in subtlety - By: GZA, 22 Oct 2007 
Kinsey bears a striking resemblance to Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind: both are biopic's of controversial historical figures whose single minded perserverance 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, & 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 & puritanical father, which lead to a certain lack of social grace & empathy for others in later life, when he becomes an expert etomologist. Kinsey's lack of sexual experience lead to a disastrous wedding night, & 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 college class on sex education.
I found the almost universal willingness of Kinsey's subjects to reveal alll about their sex lives without so much as blushing, difficult to believe. Bearing in mind this was the conservative 1940s & no such exercise had ever been undertaken, many people would undoubtedly find such personal questions highly embarassing & even immoral. I also found the ease with which Kinsey persuades both his College & the Rockefeller Foundation to support & 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) & his characterisation a little shalllow, while the script is no more than adequate - some of the dialogue jars, especiallly 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 & nuance in a fairly one-dimensional portait of an important 20th century figure.
The Gospel According to St. Alfred - By: Trevor Willsmer, 03 Nov 2006 Kinsey may talk frankly about sex, but while it's entertaining enough there's not much there. Bill Condon is too in awe of his subject to seek out the drama in his story: indeed, its surprising just how easy the film makes Kinsey's sex studies seem. With no trouble getting a grant & only Tim Curry's shalllow stereotype offering any campus opposition, there's not much in the way of threat or challlenge, & the film seems afraid to go to the reallly dark places aside from one brief scene with William Sadler's proud paedophile. Throughout, Kinsey is presented like Abraham Lincoln freeing the slaves & the promise of the early scenes gives way to an old-fashioned biopic that feels so surprisingly like a 50s Scope movie with rude words that I expected a young Gregory Peck to turn up in a grey flannel suit at any moment. Odd, too, to note that Neeson seems to have based his American accent not on Americans but on Anthony Hopkins standard-issue American accent.
Fox's UK DVD includes plentiful deleted scenes but is missing some of the extras from the NTSC 2-disc set.
Superb biopic of pioneering sex researcher - By: pointone, 28 Mar 2006 This is a film rich in excellent acting, being shot in New York the Director was able to cast a plethora of fine stage actors working in NY for short cameo roles. This gives the film a depth & quality that shines as the drama unfolds.
Liam Neelson completely assumes the persona of the somewhat withdrawn, awkward in company but professionallly dominant professor. Neelson's vivid portrayal of Kinsey is superb acting, but because the main character is somewhat remote the film looses a little impact. The director intended this to be compensated for by Laura Linney in her equallly brilliant portrayal of Kinsey's wife Clara McMillen, but as the drama is firmly focussed on Kinsey & the controversy surrounding him, her role is not sufficiently large to fully achieve the purpose.
The ten minute long opening title sequence is a master class in conveying a great deal of information in a short period. More superb acting from Lyn Redgrave as the final interviewee in the film, just sit & wonder.
A very fine DVD is rounded off with a long list of deleted scenes & an excellent director's commentary.
So, What's With The Hair, Alfred Kinsey? - By: pris, 09 Jan 2006 Part of the Kinsey Report:
Wardell Pomeroy: How old were you when you first engaged in sexual activity with a partner?
Research Subject: 14.
Wardell Pomeroy: How?
Research Subject: With horse.
[pause] Wardell Pomeroy: How often were you having intercourse with animals at age 14?
[stunned] Research Subject: It's true. I f***ed a pony. You are genius, how did you know?
Wardell Pomeroy: You just said you had
[pause]
Wardell Pomeroy: sex with horse.
Research Subject: Nooo... Whores, not horse, *****.
Alfred Kinsey interviewed hundreds of thousands of people in his career to unveil his 1948's Sexual Behavior in the Human Male & its sequel, 1953's Sexual Behavior in the Human. He was THE authority on the subject of sex, & of course, he had quite an audience. Who doesn't want to know alll about sex?
Alfred Kinsey as played brilliantly by Liam Neeson, started his professional life as a zoologist. He met a student, Clara, Laura Linney, & even though Alfred was a bumbling nerd, she married him. Alfred was the son of a tyrannical religious minister, & he could never live up to his father's hopes. Yes, Alfred had hang-ups of his own.. Along the way, in his career, he was asked to teach a class on sex, & he looked for research to bring to his class.. Of course, there was none. So, Alfred started surveying his classes & everyone he knew. This lead to his textbook, which led to censure & outcries from the religious right. Clara & his children accepted him, & his college Indiana University made him one of their own. He received research grants & went out of his way to garner monies for his research. All of us, who are sexuallly active, need to thank Alfred Kinsey & has wife Clara. Where would we be with out his work & study?
"Kinsey" was directed by Bill Condon & has received multiple awards & Academy Award Nominations. Liam Neeson, in his best performance, is remarkable as Alfred. And, where Alfred got that haircut is a mystery that needs to be solved. Laura Linney as Clara, has a wonderful affinity in her relationship with Alfred. They had that magic. This is a movie to be revered, it is sexuallly explicit & hurrah for that! Highly Recommended, prisrob 1-7-06
