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Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Chris O'Donnell, Peter Sarsgaard, Timothy Hutton ... see more see more... , John Lithgow , Tim Curry , Oliver Platt , Dylan Baker , Julianne Nicholson , Bill Sadler , John McMartin , Veronica Cartwright , Kathleen Chalfant , Heather Goldenhersh , Dagmara Dominczyk , Lynn Redgrave , Michael Arkin , Joe Badalucco , Susan Blommaert , Bill Buell , Fred Burrell , Jarleth Conroy , Harley Cross , Clifford David , Arthur French , Mara Hobel , Katharine Houghton , Tuck Milligan , Martin Murphy , John Pruitt , Reno , Don Sparks , Jaime Tirelli , Joe Zaloom , Dan Ziskie , Pascal Armand , John Epperson , Barry Del Sherman , Mark Mineart , Jefferson Mays , Arden Myrin , Sean Skelton , Edwin J. McDonough , David Harbour , Kate Jennings Grant , Amy Wilson , Will Denton , John Krasinski , William Sadley , Benjamin Walker , Matthew Fahey , Romulus Linney , Judith J.K. Polson , Leigh Spofford , Thomas Luke MacFarlane , Mike Thurstlic , Michele Federer , Alvin Keith , Maryellen Owens , Roderick Hill , Peg Small , Kate Reinders , Lindsay Schmidt , Jason Patrick Sands , Marcel Simoneau , Bobby Steggert , John Ellison Conlee , Chandler Williams , Draper Shreeve , Phillip Kushner , Henrietta Mantooth , Doris Smith , Steven Edward Hart , Randy Redd

Alfred Kinsey was an entomologist who taught at Indiana University and had a keen interest in an area of human behavior that had seen little scholarly research -- human sexuality. While the courtship ... read more read more...and reproductive patterns of animals had been carefully documented, Kinsey believed that most "established facts" about human sexual behavior were a matter of conjecture rather than research and that what most people said about their sex lives was not born out by the evidence (a subject that had personal resonance for him given the troubles he and his wife Clara Kinsey had in the early days of their marriage). After introducing a course in "Marriage" at Indiana University which offered frank and factual information on sex to students, Kinsey began an exhaustive series of interviews with a wide variety of people from all walks of life in order to find out the truth about sex practices in America. When he published Sexual Behavior and the Human Male in 1948, his findings were wildly controversial, indicating that most men had a wider variety of sexual experiences than most people imagined, including a number of practices commonly thought to be dangerous or perverted (including pre-marital sex, same-sex contacts, and masturbation). An even greater outcry greeted Kinsey's next volume, Sexual Behavior and the Human Female, which contradicted common notions than most women went into marriage sexually inexperienced. Kinsey is a film biography written and directed by Bill Condon which examines Kinsey's life and work from his strict childhood until his death in 1956. Liam Neeson plays Alfred Kinsey, and Laura Linney co-stars as Kinsey's wife and colleague Clara. John Lithgow highlights the supporting cast as Kinsey's repressed and moralistic father, while Chris O'Donnell, Peter Sarsgaard, and Timothy Hutton play members of Kinsey's research team and Tim Curry appears as an IU faculty member at odds with Kinsey's teachings. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Flixster Users

72% liked it

32,307 ratings

Critics

90% liked it

189 critics

R, 1 hr. 58 min.

Directed by: Bill Condon

Release Date: November 12, 2004

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DVD Release Date: May 17, 2005

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Stats: 1,695 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (1,695)

  • kenstachnik
    January 9, 2012
    kenstachnik
    Great acting, some really fun moments. It's not going to rock your world, but it might nudge it a little.
  • FrizzDrop
    November 6, 2011
    FrizzDrop
    A biographical film concerning the findings, research, and life of Dr. Alfred Kinsey, a zoologist and entomologist who turned his attention to the science of sex when the nation was still knee deep in the Cold War. Kinsey opened the American public up to a great deal of factual i... read morenformation that changed lives, saved others, and put a brighter light on human biological functions, making it obvious to general speculation that all of us are equally normal, and different at the same time. The film explores the revelations of Kinsey, and the steps he took from simply studying animal behavior, to the unheard of concept of sexual research. None of it broaches on especially scandalous in modern eyes, but the chasm between Kinsey, his wife, his children, and his research team becomes increasingly apparent. He only wants to study and catalogue a taboo topic, and his glaring clarity on the subject subjugates him from his son, who only wants to be seen as normal. His wife and constant companion is all too accommodating with his decisions to experiment, and goes along with everything in a supportive manner. Kinsey only speaks of his subject and that seems to be the extent of his conversational skills, driving him away from human contact, which is the sole way he seems to find pleasure in life. The increasing trials of the House on Un-American Activities Committee, a strain on funds, and a shunning from any scientific field or public interest derails him further. The choice of cast was superb: Liam Neeson, though burdened by an accent he can't misplace, was so stoic and brave in his portrayal, that he completed a vision of a man bridled with his own inequalities and social misgivings. Linney provides another role of a woman with a lot on her mind, but little in the way of showing it. The choice to include great character actors such as Timothy Hutton, Dylan Baker, and Oliver Platt really pulled everything together, since each took their role to heart and fleshed out their characters. It was interesting look into American repression during the fifties, and an examination of whether sex is based on love, pleasure, or is in fact a scientific field to be explored without emotional attachment.
  • flixsterman
    December 12, 2009
    flixsterman
    The biographical story of Alfred Kinsey, the trail blazing scientist who, in 1948, shocked the world with his sensational book "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male". The film recounts his extraordinary journey from obscurity to notoriety with graphic detail.

    It's hard to overstate... read more Kinsey's impact on American culture. While I agree that his contributions are beyond significant and that his is a story worth telling, I still have far too many inhibitions to be objective in my review of this explicit and controversial movie. Kinsey the film, much like Kinsey the man, is sometimes disturbing but always interesting.
  • SirPant
    September 24, 2009
    SirPant
    There?s some great acting in this film, Neeson, Cartwright & Sarsgaard are all very good. Watch out for William Sadler?s part though. I?ve never felt so uneasy watching a film, it makes me shudder just thinking about it!
  • 76Majikat
    September 11, 2009
    76Majikat
    Depicting the true life events of Alfred Kinsey and his famously publicised sex studies that would cause much debate across America during the 1940?s.

    Good parts played by Neeson, Linney and O?Donnell and thought in particular the make up envolving the aging of the characters ... read morewere done particularly well.

    A tale with perhaps an underlying moral, that was quite a controversial story of it?s time.
  • ironclad1609
    December 14, 2008
    ironclad1609
    This biopic tells the story of Alfred Kinsey who revolutionized people's views on human sexuality with his surveys and books. The film follows his studies and his personal life quite closely but not without a certain neutral distance. The cast is full of great names, all deliveri... read moreng excellent performances in a script full of humor and humanity. Entertaining and interesting even for people not familiar with his work, in short: just the way a biography should be like.
  • aliceinpunderland
    July 27, 2008
    aliceinpunderland
    Not just great dialogue delivery but nuanced silent LOOKS. Missing a star because (and I normally don't judge a movie based on how I feel about a character but seeing as this is a biopic on a real person, please indulge me) of Kinsey's hypocrisy toward the "prudery" of his own s... read moreon and subsets of the population. His intolerance for opinions less liberated than his own negates the true freethinking philosophy. Assuming that this facet was rigorously researched and not just written in for irony...
  • CloudStrife84
    March 30, 2008
    CloudStrife84
    As a very liberal person, living in a very liberal country, I sure enjoyed the story of this film. It's main theme, revolving around human sexuality and one man's quest to research and and revolutionize said field with the help of science, was very intriguing indeed, especially a... read mores the story is based on real events. Great performance as well by Liam Neeson and the supporting cast.
  • RossCollinsUK
    February 25, 2008
    RossCollinsUK
    Fabulous portrait of an obsessed scientist, spanning the career of real-life Professor Kinsey, the pioneering "sex doctor".
  • tsigur
    November 3, 2007
    tsigur
    Neeson and Scarsgard are great.

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Critic Reviews

Roger Moore
December 17, 2004
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

It's delightfully playful for a serious movie, balancing glib wit against its pathos and controversy. Full Review

Rex Reed
November 29, 2004
Rex Reed, New York Observer

The great thing about Kinsey is the triumphant way it entertains, informs and electrifies us with the highest values of traditional cinema while opening our hearts and minds with the liberating potent... Full Review

Eric Harrison
November 29, 2004
Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle

The biopic succumbs to a paint-by-numbers feel as it dutifully touches the highs and lows of a life that can't easily fit within two hours. Full Review

Joe Baltake
November 24, 2004
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee

The remarkable Liam Neeson does an affectingly self-effacing turn in the title role. Full Review

Tom Long
November 24, 2004
Tom Long, Detroit News

One heck of a flick, paying homage to an imperfect man whose impact on history may be substantial, and yet painting him as a clumsy, passionate fellow who's simply trying to figure things out.

Terry Lawson
November 24, 2004
Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press

I can't imagine the performances, or much else, being improved on. Full Review

Ken Tucker
November 23, 2004
Ken Tucker, New York Magazine

It's a new Neeson as Dr. Alfred Kinsey, all spiky-haired and harried, and he's enormously appealing in the role. Full Review

David Denby
November 23, 2004
David Denby, New Yorker

It's partly a scientific brief, partly a song of sex, and it's enormously enjoyable.

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
November 23, 2004
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

[Neeson] makes the movie better than it is by filling in the rough patches with a portrayal so committed, so nuanced, that this may be the role he's remembered for (and which may finally win him an Os... Full Review

Bill Muller
November 23, 2004
Bill Muller, Arizona Republic

Succeeds, in part, because the film is as non-judgmental as the famed sex researcher himself. Full Review

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  • This Actor has been a Jedi Master, starred in Gangs of New York, Batman Begins, and had the title role in Kinsey.  Answer »
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