Written and Directed by Bill Condon

Starring:
- Liam Neeson as Alfred Kinsey
- Laura Linney as Clara McMillen
- Chris O'Donnell as Wardell Pomeroy
- Peter Sarsgaard as Clyde Martin
- Timothy Hutton as Paul Gebhard

Once again I feel the need to review a film that Matt Cale has covered briefly in one of his film festival litanies and expand upon what he said. So far, I think I'm doing pretty good (see The Barbarian Invasion and/or Sideways) and I hope that this review of Kinsey is justified as a stand-alone endeavor, redundancy be damned. Shall we begin?

Liam Neeson is Dr. Alfred Kinsey, the man made famous for his infamous book, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male first published in 1948. My own father was a research psychologist who studied aberrant behavior in male schizophrenics (much of it sexual in nature), so I had been aware of Kinsey's work since a very young age. My dad had nothing but respect for the man, holding both his statistical methodology and his firm belief in empiricism in the highest regard. So it was with a great deal of shock that as I aged and started to talk to other people about Mr. Kinsey, they looked at him in a dimmer light. Sometimes a much dimmer light. Why? Kinsey said that Pedophilia was, "normal." Kinsey was himself a pervert and wrote these books as a way of justifying his own sick behavior. He pierced his cock with a toothbrush. And my favorite; the only people that would talk so frankly about sex back in the mid 1940s were out and out degenerates--his results are tainted as a result. Anyhow, like anything in life, the coin has two sides.

To me, the most shocking thing about "Prok" (Professor Kinsey) was his intense religious upbringing. Early in the film his brother admits to a young Alfred that he had a wet dream. Kinsey suggests they pray about it. Admittedly, it would be easy to say, "Ah, he's just rebelling against his puritanical roots--no wonder he's such a dirty freak." But there is so much more to the Kinsey story than that. Now of course, being beaten with the bible from a young age is part of the story, it just isn't the whole story. More revealing is when he and "Mac" (Laura Linney as Clara McMillen) get married, their wedding night is the stuff of nightmares. Both virgins, they have no idea what to do, what to expect and barely any notion of where to begin (as Kinsey grabs his wife's breast for presumably the first time, he asks, "may I?"). This so upsets Kinsey--that two people so in love are forced into such massive ignorance by a society afraid of the mere mention of sex--that he vows to right what he perceives to be a terrible wrong. But unlike a work of fiction, where he would stomp his foot and begin crusading, it takes Kinsey another twenty years to really get going and begin recording his sexual "histories."

Before becoming the chronicler of American sexuality, Kinsey was a biologist studying some sort of wasp. The movie indicates that through the study of this insect, Kinsey came to realize that their sexual behavior isn't that much different from our own. But, one of the crucial differences is that we have a culture which dictates sexual behavior whereas the birds and the bees do not (obviously, Kinsey's work pre-dated Jane Goodall's). Furthermore, our culture is the way it is because of ignorance. And the antidote for ignorance is education. Lots and lots of education. After a newly married student couple pay Dr. Kinsey a visit and admit to their own sexual dysfunction, Kinsey decides to offer a course on human sexuality. It quickly becomes the most popular course at the college. And it is through this class, that Kinsey has his real breakthrough; he records the sexual histories of his students and is shocked at what he learns. Expecting everyone to be as "priggish" as he was, he quickly learns that premarital sex, infidelity, masturbation and homosexuality are commonplace. Extremely commonplace.

Now remember of course that most if not all of our states still have weird, antiquated "sodomy-laws" on the books (laws so weird that they equate oral sex with sodomy) and homosexuality itself is still technically illegal all over the place. As recently as today I was reading about a group called Concerned Women for America (CWA) who not only want sodomy-laws placed back on the books, but who really believe that Kinsey's secret goal was to normalize pedophilia and bestiality. And of course these are the same kooks who back in the 40s and 50s said that Kinsey was a communist infiltrator. For all of his personal flaws (flaws that we all have, by the way), Kinsey was a liberator. I'm not married, nor will I ever probably get married. It's just not in me/who I am. However, I have, and will continue to, enjoy sex, greatly. Kinsey opened the door to that and I am SO thankful. I get immense pleasure from masturbation, as do the overwhelming majority of you out there--we can all thank Kinsey for that most percious of gifts. I like watching drunk girls make out with each other, etc. Kinsey man, all Kinsey. So, like, if any of you have ever engaged in non-marital sex and enjoyed yourselves and weren't condemned/arrested for doing so, you have Kinsey to thank.

I guess my point is that, OK, look, even if his methods were not perfect and his motives were not "pure," so what? Glass houses you motherfuckers. Kinsey didn't invent blowjobs (the French did), he just said, "Holy shit, most of the women in this room have had a cock in their mouth. Hmmm... maybe that's not deviant behavior?" Actually, that is what I enjoyed most about the movie. When Kinsey was confronted with the idea that oral sex prevents pregnancy, he dismisses it as absurd. But when asked, "how do you know?" Kinsey admits that he doesn't know, but he would love to find out. That my friends, is the mark of a true scientist. The thirst for actual knowledge for the sake of increasing human understanding is one of the most noble and beautiful of man's activities. Shooting an arrow into a wall and painting a bull's-eye around it is one of the most ignoble. And I would say that holding onto beliefs written down thousands of years ago is exactly that--dressing ignorance up as something it is not. In my mind, Kinsey is one of those rare biopics--like Ghandi--where the quality of the film, the acting, everything--is transcended by the message of liberation and hope. In this case it is, "free your ass and your mind will follow."

Special Ruthless Ratings:

What did you think of that part with the sex freak guy who could jerk off in 10 seconds and slept with a 1,000 children: That was bizarre and slightly disturbing. But, research is research. Kinsey just reported what was told to him. So, you are saying it is God's fault for creating Pedophiles: I don't believe in "God" or any supernatural anything. So, then, like what do you have against Pedophilia? Like, why not go rape kids: I like how it is always, "God exists--don't do bad things/God doesn't exist--I'm going to start raping!" I remember a friend of mine who was raised by born agains and was herself a born again telling me that in Heaven you can smoke and have orgies and drink... Heaven for me was 2002. Answer the question about raping kids: I have no desire to rape kids. But if you did, Kinsey would call it normal: So. Who cares what Kinsey would call it? So, you are for it: You don't have to be for something to acknowledge that it takes place. I'm not for religion. I see it as a sign of mental illness. But, 90% of the world or more believes strongly that an invisible superhero in the sky invented puppies and needs cash, constantly. I don't think Kinsey was saying that we need more Pedophilia. What he was saying, however, was that Pedophilia is very common place. So is homosexuality. Which, from a scientific perspective is interesting. But why are you against Pedophilia: I believe that before puberty, no one has sexual feelings. Er, better put, no one is capable of acting on their sexual feelings in a proper way. After puberty it's all fair game. So, you are for statutory rape: Sigh... look, do you know the age of consent of girls in Quebec is twelve? The age of consent is a societal construction. Seems to me that since most people begin having sex at age 16, that's what the law should indicate. So, you don't mind sixteen year olds fucking fifty year olds: Who cares what I think? Also, that has gone on since time immemorial. You can't stop it by passing a law. Same applies for pedophilia: Shut up. Answer the question: I did. Pre-puberty there is no consent. With consent, adults can do what they want to each other. Anything else: I love Luara Linney. Review Posted: 12.2.04