Um Beijo Antes de Morrer

This film contains a very good performance from Matt Dillion, but the rest isn't very good at all. Bad pacing, I was ultimately bored unless Dillion was on the screen. If you are a Matt Dillion fan check it out.

Usually when a person is so motivated to go to any lengths to achieve his dream it's depicted as a good thing. But when that person is Jonathan Corliss (Dillon), it's a nightmare for those who care about him and bloody executions for those who stand in his way.

Matt Dillon's performance as a charming psychopath is what works very well in "A Kiss Before Dying". Corliss, a blue collar Philadelphia lad with huge ambitions, sets his sights on a Copper Baron's (Max Von Sydow) empire and plans to become a member of the family. When it becomes necessary to dispose of the Baron's daughter (Sean Young), Corliss (under an alias) moves on to her twin sister (Young again) and enters the family. But hiding his tracks and his former life proves quite the hassle and Corliss has no reservations with killing every one who stands in his way of greatness in the Copper business.

A double doze of Sean Young is a bit too much to take; she's simply an astonishingly bad actress but Dillon more than makes up for that. His Jonathan Corliss is a very memorable psychopath. It's never made crystal clear as to why he set his sights solely on Von Sydow's empire but his journey on the way is suspenseful. It's not a very graphic film but it does have some very nasty moments and disturbing death scenes.

Director Dearden makes no attempts in admitting his affection for Alfred Hitchcock and some moments here are obviously a tribute to the old master of suspense. The ending does feel a bit rushed but overall "A Kiss Before Dying" is an above average thriller with some striking and memorable set pieces.

Why do they do it? Just because a film was made once in the fifties, someone thinks they need to remake it with today's hot stars. At least they could improve on the story.

The most glaring hole in this version is the fact that the father (Max von Sydow) hired a private detective to investigate the boyfriend of his daughter, and yet he declined to investigate the boyfriend of his other daughter, both played by Sean Young, which would have exposed the plot.

Matt Dillon plots to have it all and has to do some things that just stretch us beyond belief to get there. He just seems to be in the right place at the right time just once or twice too often for my tastes.

I fell in love with Sean Young when she did No Way Out back in 1987. I haven't seen much of her lately and understand that she has not been doing so well. I thought she was good in this role and think that she has been unfairly criticized.

Still, I believe film noir is best watched in films of the fifties and remakes just don't do it for me.

Inferior remake of the 1956 classic. Matt Dillion was still very handsome when this was made and the real reason to watch. He is effective as the sociopat, and would have been better with a talented and attractive leading lady. Sean Young is just really, really bad. If you dislike her, this plays as an unintentional comedy. A nice touch is Matt lighting a cigarette after he pushes her off the roof.

Now if Matt was teamed with Diane Lane again, this could have been an effective and sexy thriller. BTW, well to do women do not buy box hair color at the drugstore they have professionals color it. Hair as dark as Young's would have to be bleached first anyway. It is a two step process.

The large part of the fun of watching A Kiss Before Dying is looking out for the number of Hitchcock movie moments the film is paying tribute to: from Psycho's shower shots and the lonesome mother's house our Norman Bates has escaped from, to the bleaching of the heroine and taking the Kim Novak role a la Vertigo with possibly lethal consequences. I was hugely amused and never mind the creaking plot. On a technical level, I loved the Technicolor hue of the film, very Hitchcock period too. I'm not sure why the lead actress, Sean Young, got a double Razzie award for her dual role. It seems undeserved. I'm sure there must have been far worse performances in 1991 to choose from.