Carnal Knowledge

Two friends (Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel) struggle with relationships through two decades.

Carnal Knowledge doesn’t start well. It shows its age by having its characters, in college, talking and regarding sex like today’s high-schooler’s. The performers are all fine, but both leads Jack Nicholson and Art Garfunkel are over thirty, trying to play men ten years younger. Don’t be discouraged though, as the film clicks in a big way once the men get out of college.

Now, they’re young professionals. They look their age and the things they’re grappling with are age appropriate. The film takes off. It’s a fascinating, almost voyeuristic look, at two fatally flawed men, and how their emotional flaws affect their relationships, and ultimately, their lives.

As the film unwinds, spanning nearly two decades of the character’s post-college life, you become more and more fascinated and invested, so much so that when the film ends you’re almost disappointed. Not in the ending, but the mere fact that you can’t go further along in these two men’s lives, to see them move into old age, and eventually, face their own mortality. It’s that gripping.

Thus, Carnal Knowledge is an easy recommendation for both men and women, just don’t let the awkward beginning discourage you.