Carnage (***1/2)

There will be those who describe this as stripping away the veneer of civility that hides our contempt for others. Some may see it as skewering a certain kind of liberal hypocrisy. Undoubtedly, some will think it’s just two unpleasant couples bickering for 80 minutes. I thought Roman Polanski’s adaptation of  Yasmina Reza’s play God of Carnage was all of those things, but mostly just funny.

Kate Winslet and Christoph Waltz play one couple; they’ve arrived at the home of the other, played by Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly, to deal with an altercation between their eleven-year-old sons, who are not present. Actually, they’re about to leave as the story begins, the four of them having hashed out a description of the incident and committed it to print, all legal style. (Waltz’s character is, in fact, a lawyer.) The only thing that struck me as unrealistic, if clever, is how Reza/Polanski get them all to stay together the whole time. (Polanski does nothing to “open up” the story, which nearly all takes place in one fashionable Brooklyn apartment, though it didn’t bother me.)

Quickly enough, talk about the incident becomes talk about parenting, talk about marriage, and talk about whether the cobbler being served is a cake or a pie. The couples ally against the other; the men ally against the women; the wives argue with their husbands. The lawyer’s repeatedly ringing, familiarly annoying cell phone becomes an ongoing punch line. And though I tend to dislike body-function humor, this movie shows that even a gross-out scene can be funny if done right.

Foster’s sanctimonious writer character is simultaneously the least likeable character and the one I felt sorriest for, since she seems most unhappy. Actually, hers was only the one of the four I really felt much toward, other than amusement. I can still see the bulging veins in Foster’s neck when her character gets extremely angry. I suppose it would have been even more impressive watching these actors delivering the torrent of dialogue on the fly, live, but even on film it’s a showcase for all four. The nasty edge to all of these characters might put off some people, but it’s impressive that in the short space they are all well-defined, and they have such delicious dialogue.


IMDb link

viewed at Ritz Bourse 1/18/12 and reviewed 1/18/12