French Kiss

Along with several other friends, we spent 2 weeks in the south of France (Provence) in 1998, so this nice romantic comedy has an inside track to our affections. Ryan's fiancee (Tim Hutton), doctor, goes to France on business, later calls and says he has fallen for a French girl and isn't coming back. Ryan didn't go with him because of her fear of flying. However, this news gets her on the plane, she is resolved to win him back.

She becomes seated next to a typical rude Frenchman (Kline) on the plane, he is smuggling a grape vine and an expensive necklace into France, puts it is her knapsack to clear customs. They get separated at the airport, but he catches up with her at the hotel she told him she would be at. However, she fainted when she saw her finacee with the Frenchie, and her luggage and knapsack are stolen by a professional thief that Klein happens to know. He finds the thief, the knapsack, the grapevine, but no necklace. Ryan takes off for Nice and Cannes to find Hutton. Klein follows her.

She has lactose intolerance, eats too much cheese on the train, they have to stop in a small town, which happens to be Klein's hometown. They meet some relatives, he shows her his dream of his vineyard. In Cannes they meet up with Hutton, he is amazed at what a changed person she is, she realizes it was through knowing Klein that she grew out of her shell, the stolen necklace ends up around her neck, she turns it in to the police, gets her $45,000 life savings wired from home, gives it to Klein pretending it was from sale of the necklace to Cartier.

Since she was between foresaking her American citizenship and applying for Canadian citizenship, but her passport and papers were lost, and she is a woman without a nation, she stays in France with Klein. This movie confirms my opinion that Kevin Klein is perhaps the best comedic actor alive, and even sings the closing song, sounding much like maurice Chevalier. The reparte' between him and Ryan is just so much fun. Ryan plays basically the same character she usually does, typified by her role in "When Harry Met Sally", but she always does a fine job. This movie is so much fun, and so well done, I rate it "8" of 10.

This was one of the best comedies of the 1990s - with While You Were Sleeping, There's Something about Mary, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Flirting with Disaster, perhaps When Harry Met Sally or Sleepless in Seattle.

It's a charming movie. I'm not particularly a Meg Ryan fan - (funny that I just named two of her movies in a top comedy list!). She's at her best here.

The movie is funny but has more heart than most comedies - the scenes with Luc's family are lovely and memorable - not at all overdone, just right. The movie's at its best when the principals are all together at Cannes - it becomes less humorous but very warmly romantic. The characters are so well written - there is even sympathy for Timothy Hutton's character. The chemistry between Ryan and Kline (which I wouldn't have believed before I saw it) is very much there. By the time Kevin Kline is singing La Mer over the last of the closing credits (after Louis Armstrong has sung La Vie en Rose), you'll want to see it again.

Kevin Kline is just magnificent - a quite real,interesting, amusing person is created. The Meg Ryan character's primness is irritating - but then one must see why Timothy Hutton found her so (comically, the movie's idea of primness is that she was deflowered at 18 not 13!).

You'll like it.

This movie is sheer unabashed indulgence...indulgence in romantic comedies, in Meg Ryan, in France and a whole lot of other things and people!! I've seen this movie in parts lots of times, never really got to sit and see the whole film at one go. The dialogues are witty enough and the acting credible enough to make anyone want to sit and watch it again! Kevin Kline is superb in the role. For him it was more than just a matter of knowing French and then putting on a French accent. He seems to have undergone a transformation of sorts to really look credible as a French wine-maker cum a very convincing con man! Meg Ryan seemed one the whole more made-up than any other movie I've seen her in. But her expressions were as usual capital, really hilarious! Her reaction after eating too much cheese on the train left me in splits! There she is praising the French for having 452 types of cheese and the next instant she can't even bear the mention of cows! Some of her angst-ridden outbursts against men were totally understandable!

Timothy Hutton is one of those underrated actors who seriously deserves more challenging roles. The only other films I've seen him in are 'Ordinary People'(in which he was really brilliant. Thoroughly deserved his Oscar) and 'Mr. and Mrs. Loving'(in which her did a good turn as a Southerner in the 1950s-60s who gets married to a black woman against the law in South). He's a treat to watch in 'French Kiss' as the basically confused, prone-to-chauvinism Charlie! It would be an understatement to say that I liked the locales. France is one THE most beautiful countries and I'm glad they didn't restrict the location to Paris. I enjoyed more the part in Luc's village, complete with Ryan's witty sarcasm: "Fester, Fester, Rot, Rot. Poor you, you live over here"! This movie is not for the wine buffs('A Walk in the Clouds' with its mixture of wine and romance is recommended). It's for those who like romantic comedies and France! C'est irresistible!

Oh, and the song 'Dream A Little Dream' in French is one more sure selling point!

I love this film. The scene in which Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline first hop in the stolen car in Paris tickles me every time. While she is berating him for involving her in his (mis)adventures, she turns to look at him and misses what would be a wonderful tour of Paris as all the major landmarks of Paris go by on the passenger side of the car. Love the director's sense of humor. As for Kline's French accent, I have studied in France and have a good ear (if I do say so myself), and was very impressed with Kline's regional accent ("way", for example, rather than "we" for 'oui'). As for it being a pat romantic comedy, well, of course - suppose it had been Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, would anybody have complained?

A Francophile will probably like this film. I did. Meg Ryan plays a woman who's on the verge of marrying a Canadian, so she's denounced her American citizenship. She's also afraid of flying so she stays home while her fiance goes to Paris on business. Things take a turn for the worse when he calls, saying he's met the woman of his dreams and he's staying in France.

Frantic to get back her man, she boards a plane. Next to her sits a French thief, beautifully played by Kevin Kline, who has problems of his own, most notably how to smuggle a diamond necklace out of the country.

It's a character-driven plot that Cary Grant would have loved - two people who are seemingly so "repelled" by each other but all they need are the right elements to fall in love. I'm generally not a fan of the romantic-comedy, but the French setting sucked me in as did a supporting role played by the always excellent Jean Reno.

As for the authenticity of Kline's accent, I had a good friend from France who claimed it was "formidable." So there.

Very entertaining and worth a watch.

Want more French choices? Try "Frantic" with Harrison Ford, it's Hitchcockian; "Green Card," who can resist Depardieu?; and my all-time favorite Meg Ryan film "Addicted to Love." It's a great black comedy and it has the sizzlingly sexy Tcheky Karyo. "C'est magnifique!"