Review of Carnal Knowledge

While I don't really watch many films with Jack Nicholson in them, they never fail to entertain me because he typically plays a nut or some mildly psychotic character, which is actually in line with his real life persona. Carnal Knowledge is a film I've known about for years but never gave a second thought to because at the time, I thought it was just ok. After seeing it again, I realize that it's a great showcase for Nicholson, his hilarious, dry sense of humor, and how relationships are some of the most frustrating things you can partake in. The movie follows two Massachusetts college roommates, Sandy and Jonathan (Art Garfunkel and Nicholson respectively), who despite living together, are polar opposites when it comes to their sexual proclivities. Jonathan thinks of women as mental pests who exist to drive men mad, but at the same time, he's mostly mindlessly attracted to the way they look and not much else. On the contrary, Sandy gets more emotionally attached to women, seeming to sense that they're more understanding and accepting of a person's mistakes than men are. Sandy meets a girl on campus named Susan (Candice Bergen) who is a huge tease to him as she rejects each one of his awkward advances. Sandy consults Jonathan on what to do next and the latter says he needs to be more assertive with her and feel her up if he wants to, but the next time she and Sandy are together, she says she doesn't feel that way about him. Meanwhile (unbeknownst to Sandy) Susan is also being chased around by Jonathan, who later sleeps with her. At a bar, Jonathan tries to convince Susan not to also sleep with Sandy, but she doesn't listen. Because he's his best friend, Jonathan knows Sandy's every romantic endeavor. Jonathan later gives an ultimatum to Susan, saying if she doesn't tell Sandy she's already slept with Jonathan, he's going to tell him. She refuses to tell him, so Jonathan abandons the relationship. Years later, Sandy marries her while Jonathan is still left searching for his ideal partner. Again, his definition of ideal mainly concerns itself with how curvaceous a girl is and has nothing to do with how she is as a person. When Jonathan comes across a nightclub worker named Bobbie (Ann-Margret) he knows beyond a shadow of a doubt he's going to be living the dream from now on. At first, living with her in an apartment goes well, but Jonathan soon finds out Bobbie is very bland in terms of personality. Bobbie stops working and becomes depressed to the point she sleeps for over half the day. After a year of living this way, Jonathan goes nuts and yells at her for not being motivated enough to fix her own life while he's out in the city 8 hours a day. While this goes on, Sandy's relationship also grinds to a halt. He seems to have the opposite problem as his friend, since Bobbie has the physique of a goddess but no personality, while Susan is understanding of Sandy but is shy and timid in bed. This leads to their breakup. Sandy gets a new girlfriend named Cindy who he only seems to be with for a few days before he starts complaining about her. He confides to Jonathan during a meeting at his apartment that she gives out too many instructions when they sleep together, so Jonathan suggests they trade partners. When approached, Cindy seems excited at the prospect of seeing Jonathan again (when Sandy isn't around), but Bobbie then attempts to kill herself in her bedroom since Jonathan wouldn't let her marry. A long time after, Jonathan, Sandy, and yet another girlfriend of his, Jennifer (Carol Kane) are watching a slideshow made by Jonathan which contains pictures of all the women he's had contact with ever since childhood. When he comes to a slide of Bobbie, he says she conned him into marriage and now has to pay her child support. Once the slideshow ends, Jennifer cries and walks out. Despite years passing, Jonathan's subsequent conversation with his friend proves he hasn't gotten smarter at all really: he still puts women on a pedestal and thinks Jennifer knows worlds he can't even imagine. Finally, being that he is all alone, Jonathan visits a prostitute who recites to him a monologue (written by him) to make him feel important, which is the one and only way he can get aroused anymore. While I still hold onto my belief that this film's greatest moment is when Jonathan explodes at Bobbie in his bedroom, the rest of Carnal Knowledge is enjoyable enough for a movie Nicholson fans often overlook. In it, he behaves like a real life Robert Crumb cartoon, only viewing women as objects to sate his lustful desires. This is why he gets so mad when Bobbie wants to get married, as he believes anyone wanting a relationship focusing on something other than appearance is a fool. The way Nicholson's and Garfunkel's performances synthesize when they're onscreen together is another high point, as they try to give each other advice and gripe about their past experiences. It's not the type of movie that everyone will find interesting and I'd be lying if I said I viewed it as something special years ago, but Carnal Knowledge is still a one of a kind that shows how misguided those who focus on physical attraction usually are.