Kinsey (2004)

Without a doubt, Liam Neeson is one of my favorite actors.  The film "Kinsey," dealing with the life of the controversial sex researcher, definitely pushes buttons, and it took courage to make it.  Does it gloss over aspects of the man's life?  Probably, but it also touches on a vital fact: before Kinsey, there was virtually nothing.  It took a man isolated from his own emotions to break through the social barriers, and once he was there, he found no boundaries.  Neeson takes the part fiercely, fearlessly, doubtless knowing that there was no way to present this story without being attacked.  Did Kinsey abet child abuse?  That probably depends on who you talk to.  Did he practise junk science?  Compared to some sex research today, probably.  In comparison with what existed at the time, the man was Galileo.  This movie is frightening, funny, flawed, and brilliantly performed.  Laura Linney, who plays his wife, is just wonderful.  Kinsey was a man who suggested that sex could be studied without the moral framework that was so crippling and obscuring.  Doubtless he tipped over a few sacred cows.  I'm sure some of his observations were comforting to monsters.  But we needed him.  Thanks, Fox Searchlight.  I give Kinsey an "A-"