It may not be the most important movie of the year, nor the most scenic, but Roman Polanski’s new film adaptation of the Yasmina Reza play God of Carnage is certainly great fun, especially for fans of the four actors. While filmed version of stage plays can often feel claustrophobic—Carnage is an 80-minute film that all takes place in an apartment—typically the content and acting makes up for the fact that about thirty minutes in we realize we’re never leaving the four walls.
Kate Winslet Makes a Memorable Return to the Big Screen With Her Turn as an Unhappy Rich Man's Wife
And the main set-up of Carnage definitely lends itself to a most interesting premise: What if two couples met up to calmly discuss the unfortunate incident of a fight that broke out between their kids, and then they end up behaving like kids themselves by the end of the meeting? Kate Winslet certainly has treaded this ground before in Little Children, and, to a certain extent, Revolutionary Road, but the other three actors—Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, and Christoph Waltz—aren’t exactly known for either this kind of material or films so heavy on long scenes of dialogue.
Every actor, however, makes the most of his or her character. Without the sharply drawn characters and powerhouse performances in a movie like this, you wouldn’t, well, even have a movie! And what’s really exciting about Carnage is that the casting in the movie is unique and certainly not expected. Kate Winslet plays the conservative rich man’s wife character Nancy, who starts unraveling almost immediately after stepping into the apartment, and Christoph Waltz plays her loudmouth pharmaceutical rep of a husband, a deliciously annoying character. Winslet is a marvel at playing drunk, and Waltz has great fun playing the kind of guy you just want to slug in the face. John C. Reilly, who in recent years has gotten to show his goofy side (Step Brothers) and his more dramatic side (Cyrus), has a lot of fun with the role of a dopey husband named Michael who turns out to have a sliding interest in his children.
Jodie Foster Gives Her Best Performance in Years as a Dowdy Housewife
But the most fascinating turn in the movie has to be by Jodie Foster, who only acts in a movie every few years now, and who hasn’t gotten a role as juicy as the sad and highly opinionated Penelope in a long time, not since probably The Brave One in 2007. In the beginning of the film she is almost disgustingly sweet, but her layers slowly start to come off as the film progresses (and as her character drinks more and more), and in the end, she turns into a crying, screechy mess of a broken woman that is heartbreaking and darkly hilarious.
Carnage is a very funny black comedy that builds and builds over the course of eighty minutes into some truly hateful, shocking territory. Most disappointing is the film’s abrupt conclusion, which feels like it comes a beat too soon. While we’re stuck in that apartment a long time, and while Reza’s play might end on the same note, as the end credits roll it almost feels like one or two more scenes could have been added at the tail-end to punch up the drama and show how ridiculously mean, awful, and child-like these four people truly are.
