Carnage

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  • Opened December 16, 2011 (NY, LA)
  • 1 hr 20 min
  • R | Language
  • Parents: Common Sense Media says OK for kids 16+. More on child suitability

  • After two boys duke it out on a playground, the parents of the "victim" invite the parents of the "bully" over to work out their issues. A polite discussion of childrearing soon escalates into verbal warfare, with all four parents revealing their true colors. None of them will escape the carnage. Full synopsis

  • Cast: Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, John C. Reilly
  • Director: Roman Polanski
  • Genres: Art House/Foreign, Comedy, Drama

What's the Buzz?

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Fans say Go
108 fans
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Critics say Go
61 out of 100
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Fan Reviews

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Disturbing Film

by johnboy32064

Excellent acting by everyone. Jodie deserves a nomination. I hadn't seen the play and had didn't read reviews, so I didn't recall the plot. It was a difficult film for me to sit through--not because...

So-so
The stakes are lost on me

by ska-triumph

The movie's tagline - comedy of no manners - along with the pedigree play and cast should've been a winning formula. Polanski and a film 95% interior should've had tension racketed up. But he's...

Oh No!
Worst movie of the year

by Tom_S

I enjoyed the play, but the movie just does not work at all. Four very talented actors, but all I can guess is that the director let them astray. This is supposed to be a COMEDY, but instead they...

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Critic Reviews

88
Boston Globe
| Ty Burr

The film's an even four-hander, with awful behavior spread evenly among the characters and spellbinding performances by the quartet of co-leads. Read full review

88
Philadelphia Inquirer
| Steven Rea

Think "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," but then think fun. Read full review

80
The Hollywood Reporter
| Todd McCarthy

Snappy, nasty, deftly acted and perhaps the fastest paced film ever directed by a 78-year-old, this adaptation of Yasmina Reza's award-winning play God of Carnage fully delivers the laughs and savagery of the stage piece. Read full review

65
NPR
| Bob Mondello

But it does mean you're always aware that you're watching filmed theater - a scripted pressure-cooker where playability is being allowed to trump plausibility as theoretically cultivated adults morph into savages - going from civility to carnage in 80 minutes flat. Read full review

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Photos

John C. Reilly as Michael Longstreet, Jodie Foster as Penelope Longstreet, Christoph Waltz as Alan Cowan and Kate Winslet as Nancy Cowan in "Carnage.''