Having seen the deliciously fun Broadway production, it's immediately clear that Carnage would have worked better as a television movie than as a motion picture directed by somebody like Polanski. He's so stage-bound by the script he helped adapt. While he tries ever so slightly to open it up, it's very challenging to make something so confined work on this scale.
Polanski gets a particular lot of help from Christoph Waltz, who is positively delightful here. Kate Winslet also gives a fairly impressive turn once she starts getting sloshed late in the picture. Jodie Foster is predictably annoying and John C. Reilly is miscast.
The joy of the script remains. It's hard not to be amused by the scenario that plays out, but this is hardly great filmmaking. They could have done just as well to film the stage production and play it on PBS.
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