Kinsey: Critic Reviews

When it comes to Kinsey the man, as well as 'Kinsey,' the shorthand for his research, the name still has the power to arouse.

Though it has its share of carnality, Bill Condon's wise and witty biography of the sex researcher Alfred C. Kinsey is, above all, an intellectual turn-on.

A convincing picture of an America semiconsciously cowered in fear and ignorance about sexuality.

There's a flatness to the filmmaking; what's needed here is a lot more va-va in its va-va-voom.

Condon sketches in the sexually benighted pre-World War II era with amusing and alarming touches.

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.

Kinsey is not easy to like as a person, but Condon has done such a good job of filling in the doctor's psychological backstory that we understand his single-minded determination to suss out every last detail of human sexuality.

The biopic succumbs to a paint-by-numbers feel as it dutifully touches the highs and lows of a life that can't easily fit within two hours.

Whether you see the man as a serpent bearing fruit or a beacon in the wilderness, it's hard to deny that Kinsey is a highly intelligent and thoroughly engaging film.

Not only does Kinsey flow with the purpose of biographical narrative, it provides a compelling portrait of a momentous shift in American culture.

It's a new Neeson as Dr. Alfred Kinsey, all spiky-haired and harried, and he's enormously appealing in the role.

It's partly a scientific brief, partly a song of sex, and it's enormously enjoyable.

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.

A moving and often very funny look at an unlikely revolutionary.

Neeson, in soft, subtle ways, draws out his character's humanity -- and shows the passion that drove the man.

Neeson pulls off something of a miracle here, creating a flesh-and-blood character who is innocent and obsessive, decent and selfish, committed to expanding the boundaries of knowledge but sadly lacking emotional wisdom.

One heck of a flick, paying homage to an imperfect man whose impact on history may be substantial, and yet painting him as a clumsy, passionate fellow who's simply trying to figure things out.

Succeeds, in part, because the film is as non-judgmental as the famed sex researcher himself.

The great thing about Kinsey is the triumphant way it entertains, informs and electrifies us with the highest values of traditional cinema while opening our hearts and minds with the liberating potential of human diversity.

Admirably adventurous.

An interesting life story told in a fun, disarming way.

Though it's perhaps the least salacious major movie ever made about sex, the biopic Kinsey is hardly clinical -- it's as purely entertaining as it is thought-provoking and timely.

It's delightfully playful for a serious movie, balancing glib wit against its pathos and controversy.

The humour is rich but never bawdy.