Review! Carnage

Carnage (2011) Directed by Roman Polanski. Starring: Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Kate Winslet, & Christoph Waltz. IMDB says: “Two pairs of parents hold a cordial meeting after their sons are involved in a fight, though as their time together progresses, increasingly childish behavior throws the evening into chaos.”

This movie is about fronts essentially. The front that you put up to others, whether it’s in a small interaction or as your main presentation of self. And this movie really gets good when these fronts start to crumble as they were undoubtedly bound to do. The set up for this movie is quite simple: the son of Penelope and Michael Longstreet (Foster & Reilly) is hit in the face with a stick carried (or armed) by the son of Nancy and Alan Cowan (Winslet & Waltz). The parents meet to exchange their son’s account of the story and to play nice with each other. It becomes a ticking clock to see how soon  these seemingly pleasant couples will turn on each other as they increasingly show their true colors. 
The performances really make the film, as each of these four actors really get to play up their comedic chops as they pound out line after line of quick dialogue. For a film that takes place mostly within a singular room, it can begin to feel tedious and even a bit long despite its short running time, but these four are able to convince you to stick it out until the end. Winslet and Foster usually don’t get the chance to show this side of themselves, but they really play up their parts, especially after a few drinks of fine scotch. Waltz is always delightful, and after playing a Nazi, a mobster, a circus ringleader, and a muskateer it was nice to see him play the part of a normal person with all of the same spark. Reilly, who many seem to have forgotten his origin as a dramatic actor, may seem miscast in this role, but I thought he was able to capture the part perfectly. 
Since this film is made up of a very long conversation, it is able to gradually become one that tackles a lot in a short amount of time. Wives complaining about their disconnected and unenthusiastic husbands. Husbands complaining about their demanding and emotional wives. It tows the line of predictability, but with enough wit to not seem bored. Yazmina Reza has adapted her stage play (the longer titled Gods of Carnage) into this Polanski-directed movie. The play part is going to be the most divisive aspect of this film. The obvious nature of this adapted play lends itself to actors acting theatrically, albeit greatly. You know this is based on a play, and it does take you out of the film a bit as you register the theatrics. Perhaps this film might have benefited most from a different writer, someone who is not as close to the source material as Reza. This detraction became only a slight one for me though. I found myself entertained throughout and ready for things to get even worse between these couples. Despite my general enjoyment of what I was viewing, this isn’t necessarily a film of note. Your final take will probably be less exciting than your experience, but it should be a good one nonetheless.