Review of Carnage (2011) by Doctor S — 02 Jul 2013

The only way you'd really recognize this was helmed by Roman Polanski is by associating with his other one-room film Death and the Maiden. That one had a much more intriguing premise, whereas Carnage deals with peeling back the veneers of politeness and social interactive convention to expose the honest self when two sets of parents deal with a playground assault.

The men perform the best with John C. Reilly in perfect form as a good-natured home fixtures salesman with a fear of rodents, and Christoph Waltz scores as a passive-aggressive lawyer amusingly indifferent to his son's upbringing.

Kate Winslet is his neglected wife who doesn't hold her liquor nor food nor her English accent down very well. Jodie Foster comes in fourth, admittedly with probably the toughest role, as a righteous liberal who believes compromise solves everything, veering into indignant OTT outbursts.

Four top actors and a playfully wandering script kept me entertained enough to give a mild recom.