Movie Review – Carnage

This is a very funny black comedy.  The film starts with two couples, Penelope and Michael  and Nancy and Alan reasonably amicably discussing a fight between their respective school-age sons.  Penelope (played by  Jodie Foster ) is an earnest, humourless writer married to working-class salesman, Michael(played by John C. Reilly).  Alan (played by Christoph Waltz) is a corporate lawyer married to broker Nancy (played by Kate Winslet).  Just as Nancy and Alan are about to leave the apartment a chance remark draws them back in. In fact they almost leave on two more occasions.  

The polite masks soon fall away and the arguments get increasingly nasty.  At first the rows are between the couples; this degenerates into a free for all. There are some very funny one-liners and put-downs.  I thought by far the stronger performances were from Jodie Foster and Christoph Waltz.