Kiss Me, Kill Me

Watching Kiss Me Kill Me you would think that all of West Hollywood is one big gay party. However this film which starts with a party has several murders in it and the wrong guy fingered by the police for all of them.

Gale Harrold is a reality TV show host and quite a user of men and boys who are all eager for fame and fortune. Harrold is in the process of dumping Van Hansiss and taking up with Matthew Ludwinski. But before that happens, Harrold is killed in a liquor store holdup along with the clerk and Hansis is wounded and with no memory of the events.

This film was a decent effort to capture a certain amount of Hitchcockian type suspense in a gay context. The detectives investigating the homicides that are piling up in West Hollywood are played by Jai Rodriguez and Yolanda Ross. Ross is the only significant speaking role in the film and as most cops I've ever known once her mind is set nothing changes it. Truth be told it does look bad for Hansis.

A whole lot of mind games are being played by some very manipulative people. Not surprising since several cast members are in the mental health field. After the murderer is revealed, there's a coda to the climax showing how the murderer was also being manipulated.

Not a bad story and what a gay old place West Hollywood is.

Right from the stylish opening credits (which reminded me of 1963's Charade), this is a stylish, compelling and ultimately very satisfying thriller. It certainly kept me entertained and guessing until the end, mainly because it works on so many levels. Largely, this is due to the quality of the script, which twists and turns brilliantly, without ever losing sight of characters to care about. But mention should also be made of the direction, which is so assured (the movie looks absolutely stunning) and the performances of the cast. Some murder mysteries take an age to get going, but what is particularly impressive about Kiss Me, Kill Me is that it hits the ground running from the outset, and doesn't slacken. Not once was I bored, or looking at my watch. For me, this was one of the unsung gems of the year. Highly recommended.

Wow. What a terrible movie.

First, what is Gale Harold doing in this movie? You know the movie is D grade when Jai Rodriguez plays a police detective.

What made this movie so awful were the leaps in logic and the clichés.

Consider a scene near the end: A man pleasures himself and wipes it up with a shirt. I said wipe, as in the matter is wiped up and absorbed into the shirt - especially an hour later. And we are to believe a woman can get pregnant from the matter on the shirt? The clichés about the gay community are so 1980. We are so past all of this nonsense.

Worst of all, there were supposed to twists and it just added insult to injury.

If you are thinking about watching this movie, make it a hard pass.

Director/Writer/Actor/Producer Casper Andreas (Flatbush Luck, 2016) continues to provide the LGBTQ community with an array of films. Here, "Kiss Me, Kill Me" stars Gale Harold (Queer as Folk) as a horn-dog reality TV guru who's found dead after his latest lover Van Hansis (As the World Turns 2005-2010) threatens him, then blacks out. As with many of Andreas' films, he once again wears of too many hats and "toss everything at the storyline hoping something good will happen," and it doesn't! As a gay filmmaker, and actor in general, Andreas should know that the viewing audience (gay or straight) deserves more than the typical bitchy drag queen, bitter lesbians, corny murder suspect, over acting, the occasional shirtless guy and/or familiar gay male personalities (Jai Rodriquez - Queer Eye for the Straight Guy 2003- 2007), and a cheesy storyline. Sharing the blame here is the equally weak writing of David Michael Barrett (Such Good People 2014), who provides all the actors with little to work with and nothing to ground there characters in. Andreas can make a film, he's proving that. What he needs to make is films more widely appreciated is to surround himself with less "Yes" people and more creative types who will help him step away from his projects and look at the bigger picture. It "Killed" me to sit through the whole film.

I didn't realize saying "I'm the landlord" or "I'm the lawyer" allows people to walk into an active crime scene. A suggestion to any aspiring screenwriters: If you want to write about something you don't have personal experience with, there is no shame in doing research. It might make the story more believable.