Review of Lolita (1962) by Jon C — 26 Feb 2009

People were a great deal more PC about sexuality in media 40 years ago than today and it's mainly this fact alone that keeps Lolita from expressing itself fully. Kubrick's attempt to translate the book from page to screen is hampered so much by the MPAA's extreme censoring that even a single line of innuendo barely gets through.

Adding to the mess is that the movie treats Humbert's attraction to Lolita as an unexplored matter of fact and not being motivated by an unfulfilled sexual exploration with a girl of similar age in his youth like it was in the book.

Had Kubrick incorporated this into the movie, it would have made Humbert a lot more sympathetic of a character to relate to. Instead he comes off as a hopelessly infatuated boy in a 40-year-old's body whose feigned pleasantness and snobbish disdain for everything, save Lolita, are apparent to everyone he meets.

Peter Sellers' different disguises/personalities as Clare Quilty are amusing, but in my opinion, this is still Kubrick's worst film.