The Kiss

Just to set the record straight, Francoise Surel is the wife of producer Arthur Chang. She was on board the project from the get-go.

And while I truly appreciate some of the kind comments about the film, please know that I had nothing to do with the final version of the film. It was completely recut to focus on Ms. Surel. Likewise, the music was changed. I'm not at all fond of this final cut. And to say that I dislike the music is an understatement. And please know that the voice overs from the novel were written by other writers, not myself or Mr. Manzi.

While some of the better moments survived this cut (it's hard to make Eliza and Terence look bad), many unfortunately have not.

But nonetheless, thank you for watching, Gorman Bechard.

Before you make fun of this movie or talk about how awful it is, I suggest you read director's Gorman Bechard's defense testimonial. In it, he says that the main actress (gaunt Mia Farrow look-alike) was cast because she was the producer's wife, that someone else edited the picture, and that the music was brought in later. As a result, maybe this is simply a life lesson about Hollywood and how it corrupts anything good. Still, how can one let Mr. Bechard off the hook for having the great Terrence Stamp wear white sneakers? I mean, the guy is supposed to be a JD Salinger-like character and he's in Keds??? That, is kind of tough to forgive. But, alas, what isn't?

I rewatched this film on DVD and am stunned as to WHAT HAPPENED?

I was lucky enough to have seen the director's cut of this film in an editing room during August of 2002. Not that it was ever a great film, but it was certainly watchable, with some fun moments. Eliza Dushku, especially, was charming and funny. Really...she stole the film.

But now the fun is gone, lost to these insipid Billy Zane scenes (which had barely existed) and these voice-overs from the book that make me want to gag. Everything is so melodramatic.

I know the star is the producer's wife, but even she was so much better in the original cut. This cut really does make it seem like a vanity project, a reel for Surel.

Why hire the director of The Pretty Girl for such a task?

Having heard the film was recut from scratch, and seeing the final results, I can only wonder: WHY? Did the producers want to make it unwatchable? If that was their goal, they succeeded.

And if they wanted to give us the sappiest collection of mis-matched tunes ever, ditto.

I so remember the Getup Kids song "Mass Pike" playing during the road trip (when Dushku and Surel are driving in the red Mustang)...how cool was that? So cool that the producer pulled it and every lick of the director's music.

And the opening...this brilliant montage of Paris with a Django-type tune in the background...also gone.

What's left...a lot of Zane and Surel...overacting.

There should be a law here like in France where the director controls the film! The Kiss could be exhibit #1.

An eager young editor joins the staff of a major publishing house and discovers an old, dusty manuscript with the potential of becoming a best-selling romantic novel. But the manuscript is missing the final pages, and the editor sets off in quest of finding the mysterious author and the story's conclusion.

There was unlimited potential for developing both a suspenseful and passionate story about the lost pages and the missing author. And while "The Kiss" was competently directed by Gorman Bechard, the good premise was not fulfilled, due to the nearly total absence of passion among the main characters.

While Françoise Surel was believable as the mousy editor, she was ineffective in the all-important romantic action. Surel appears in both the main story as the editor and in flashback scenes that recreate the fictional story of the mysterious and reclusive author Philip Naudet (Terence Stamp) and his relationship with his beloved Claire.

At some point in the film, the sparks needed to fly and the chemistry needed to be forged. But throughout the film, there was nothing truly "at stake" for the characters.

The shortcomings of "The Kiss" may be seen when this film is compared to a similar romantic film entitled "The Notebook." In both films, there are two parallel plots set in the present and the past. But in "The Notebook," there was genuine passion; the stakes were high for all of the characters; and the film included a riveting performance by the leading performer (Rachel McAdams) which linked the two stories.

With "The Notebook," I empathized with the characters and their life-changing decisions, and I felt compelled to view the film a second time. With "The Kiss," the most profound detail was in the writer Naudet's suggestion to Cara to read Gustave Flaubert's famous novel "The Sentimental Education." In order to make a film with more psychological depth and emotional life, the producers of "The Kiss" needed to follow that same advice

I'll see anything Eliza Dushku is in, but I was really looking forward to this after getting my hands on a copy of the script. Suffice it to say I wasn't impressed. Apparently neither were the writers - before the film began, Stephen Manzi stood up and asked the audience not to laugh in the wrong places, as well as other comments of a similar nature that escape my swiss-cheese memory.

I can't quite put my finger on what was wrong with The Kiss. It's a wonderful story with an incredibly talented cast, but something got lost along the way. The script moved me to sappy romantic tears and the movie completely failed to move me.