The Kiss

Finally, a film with content and true character development. The Kiss, which I viewed at the San Diego Film Festival, is one of the most refreshing films I've seen for a long time. Is it setting the scene for a turnaround in the American film style? I hope so. The storyline flows elegantly throughout the scenes from beginning to end. A realistically rendered emotional scene with Terrence Stamp and Francoise Surel toward the end only makes you wish that the film would not end so soon. A genuine change from the vapid, in-your-face, so-called dramas we have been subjected to over the last few years. This film brings the whole concept of movie watching up a notch. Highly recommend it.

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.

With no screaming visual effects, no killing and no mayhem, this may not be the film for the romantically challenged. What is there is a story with a heart, characters motivated by feelings and passion. A timeless desire for togetherness is molded into two stories that are really one. Artistically crafted with a wonderful score, this is a picture for those who seek the best in people and it reminds us of what can be. I highly recommend this to those of us who still can connect with their heart.

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.

I usually like and can even withstand bad, sappy romantic stories. However, this piece was not just unforgivably slow it was practically incoherent! By the time it reached someplace meaningful you no longer cared. With a cast like this one, it was pretty unforgivable it could turn out as bad. It was obvious a lot could have been made better in the editing process. So many CUTS or fades to black were unnecessary and made the whole production appear sophomoric. I've seen better college student films. In my opinion, more time was spent on set decoration than in meaningful editing or pacing. There were no BEATS, nor forward momentum which made it intolerable. So many things it WASN'T... wasn't a buddy movie, wasn't a love story, wasn't a mystery, wasn't sex enough and wasn't worth watching! And all this from someone who DOES work in the publishing field and LIKED the concept of this story!