French Kiss

This is a really cute little romantic comedy. The story revolves around a young history teacher, Kate, who's afraid of flying but forces herself to hop on a plane for Paris to try and win back her fiancé, Charlie, who has dumped her for a gorgeous French woman. However, her seat mate on the plane happens to be a charming French crook named Luc, who uses the unsuspecting Kate to smuggle his stolen diamond necklace for him. Then, casting himself as an expert in affairs of the heart, he resolves to help Kate win back her man, later complicated by the fact that he falls for her himself.

Their adventures across France, from Paris to Cannes, in pursuit of the fiancé and his new girlfriend, make for some pretty amusing scenes. The plot is livened up by the repercussions of Luc's larcenous tricks, little sub-plots with a fellow con artist and a cop who owes him a favour. My sole complaint with this movie is a couple of unnecessary f-words and a fair bit of profanity, especially on Kate's part (taking the Lord's name in vain), reflective of the screenwriters' laziness in avoiding clever dialogue in these scenes.

Meg Ryan is her usual cute, bubbly, rather ditsy self in the role of Kate and Timothy Hutton is suitably obnoxious and despicable as Charlie, the fiancé who dumped her. However, the real star of this film is Kevin Kline, who puts genuine charm into the role of this rakishly endearing thief, Luc, and demonstrates an extremely credible French accent, in my opinion. His entire persona here makes it difficult to believe that Kline isn't really French. He must have had a fantastic language coach! Also, there is great on screen chemistry between Meg Ryan and Kevin Kline.

It's a delightful, light hearted film, a good date movie, and not necessarily just a chick flick as my husband enjoyed it too.

What's wrong with Kevin Kline's accent? My mother's family are from France and they talk like that...sort of. Well, who cares? This is a fun, fun film and I enjoyed it from title to credits. Meg Ryan in her low key but hyper way (now, if that seems like an oxymoron, watch her performance) is wonderful. BTW, I've set next to her character on an International flight... The story is great. Kline's character is lots of fun and Meg Ryan just melts you. Jean Reno is wonderful as the cop who helps Kline redeem his soul. Also, good work by Timothy Hutton and others. This is a fun film and I'm at a loss as to why the critics slammed Kevin Kline's accent... I found it believable because there are many French accents, depending on the region of origin and Kline is a good-- non, très, très bon acteur.

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?

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.

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!"