This is terrible. A nice, serious, mature, well made, well acted film that purports to be an objective biopic of a man who was doing some objective scientific research on sex. This provides the scaffolding for what is quite possibly the most cleverly deceitful film I’ve ever seen. The whole film is aimed at one goal, making the perverted acceptable. And all the while, trying to tell you that if you ever disagree, you’re the one who’s really perverted in your perception of reality.

The film begins by creating a false dichotomy of perspectives on sex. The first is represented by Kinsey’s father (John Lithgow), a fanatically puritanical religious zealot who believes zippers are an invention of the devil. On the other hand, we are presented with Kinsey (Liam Neeson), a calm, rational, intelligent man, who does research and discovers that it is perfectly normal to be involved in, not only pre-marital sex, but extra-marital sex, homosexuality, ad nauseam. It’s one way or the other, and the film clearly endorses Kinsey’s views on the matter.

Of course, Kinsey makes it clear that he’s not making normative claims with his research – that he’s not telling people how they ought to behave – merely that people do behave this way. But it’s quite obvious that Kinsey’s claim to neutrality is false. At one point he even says, “Everyone’s crime is no crime.” This ridiculous belief is upheld throughout the film. Lots of people do it, so it’s OK.

The most preposterous example of this comes in the laughably absurd climax to a storyline that follows Kinsey’s insecurity as to whether all his hard work has been of any worth. He’s interviewing a woman who says she turned homosexual one day, separated from her husband and children, and was going to kill herself when she read Kinsey’s book and realized there were lots of people like her. She subsequently joined her girlfriend and is as happy as can be. Good for Kinsey. Hey, the destruction of the family, everyone’s doing it! It's OK!

Following Kinsey logic, we ought to research how many high school kids cheat, steal and do drugs. We can then inform those who feel guilty about their behavior that it’s actually quite normal – no, natural – to do what they do. And if it’s natural, then it can’t be all that bad. It’s man in his natural state, it’s the way things are supposed to be.

Only a token nod is given towards the potential destructiveness of extra-marital sex. After Kinsey has an affair with his assistant (Peter Sarsgaard), he then allows his wife the same privilege. When his wife later tells him she feels uncomfortable with the whole open marriage thing, Kinsey simply concludes that some people need a single partner for emotional reasons, but suggests that even this is outside of the norm.

I’ve never one to get uptight about historical accuracy in film and I always say that if changing history makes a better story, change it. But, without intending to be hypocritical, a brief web search informed me that Kinsey is rather dishonest with the facts. In fact, there’s a whole website dedicated to revealing the truth about Alfred Kinsey. Among the more enlightening points include the facts that Kinsey was something of a pedophile and that a good amount of his research was phony. Other things about the film suddenly make sense when you learn that the director, Billy Condon, is a gay activist.

In summary, may I just say that Kinsey is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever seen. At no point in its rambling, incoherent message was it even close to anything that could be considered a moral idea. Everyone in the theater is now dumber for having seen it. I award this movie no points, and may God have mercy on its soul.

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