Carnage (Roman Polanski, 2011)

The presence of only four actors, all of whom we are shown in the first real scene, signals from the outset that as stage play adaptations go, this one will not venture outside the single set, and that promises contorting limitations on the plot, since devices will need to be generated to ensure that none of them leaves. That in turn brings the likelihood of cabin fever setting in, and character relationships evolving at a hothouse rate.
Polanski's film doesn't escape the groove set by all of these presets. Having all four play to type/stereotype pretty much guarantees the inevitability of the trajectory. Hence, John C. Reilly is the lumbering and honest working man, Jodie Foster a shrill high-minded liberal, Kate Winslet a warm front seething with subsurface frustration, and Christophe Waltz a smug amoral bastard.
Yet watching them go at loggerheads, superficially over the issue of one couple's son having hit the other's, but soon clearly at each other, is enormous fun. Once you've accepted the formula, these are outstanding performers each given fluid dialogue and meaty solos, producing some moments of arch comedy and real substance as a result. It doesn't overstay its welcome, either, and comes with an epilogue that puts the preceding 90 minutes of bluster very satisfyingly into context.

7/10