Review of Carnage (2011) by Brad R — 22 Apr 2012

One day two fifth graders get in a fight at school, the bully whacking the victim in the face with a stick. This incident causes a meeting among their parents-- the victim's, Michael (Reilly) and Penelope, (Foster) decide to invite the bully's parents, Alan (Waltz) and Nancy (Winslet) over to discuss what they should do to handle the situation.

This confrontation starts as four mature adults having a nice meeting, and rapidly changes into an all out brawl, causing both couples to question themselves and their marriages. "Carnage" has been perceived as a comedy-drama, but if you did the same thing as me and look at it as a comedy-character study, you'll be in for a treat.

This is a movie strictly to be seen as an exercise for its talented cast-- it was based on a play and the whole point is to show its actors skills off. Yes, all of these actors have made better movies, but this isn't about that-- it's just to impress us.

Though the plot doesn't sound compelling right away, Roman Polanksi's confident, assured direction and witty adapted screenplay turn this into a highly entertaining experiment, and is filled with many more laughs than you would think.

Every single actor plays so well off of each other, and though this movie could have had many awkward moments that just weren't funny, that just doesn't happen here, every one them having such good comedic timing-- with the exception of Reilly, I wasn't expecting any of them to have even an inch of it-- but they do.

Everybody is doing their best here, and in the end makes an excellent product. In its tiny little eighty minute package, "Carnage" delivers a top-notch film. Recommended.