Kiss the Girls (1997)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Gary Fleder

Writers (WGA):

James Patterson (novel)
David Klass (screenplay)

Release Date:

3 October 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

A detective is searching for a deadly collector. His only hope is the woman who got away.

Plot:

Police hunting for a serial killer are helped when a victim manages to escape for the first time.

Plot Keywords:

Escape | Kidnapping | Detective | Serial Killer | Casanova

Awards:

5 nominations

Cast

Morgan Freeman	...	Dr. Alex Cross
Ashley Judd	...	Dr. Kate McTiernan
Cary Elwes	...	Det. Nick Ruskin
Alex McArthur	...	Det. Davey Sikes
Tony Goldwyn	...	Dr. William 'Will' Rudolph
Jay O. Sanders	...	FBI Agent Kyle Craig
Bill Nunn	...	Det. John Sampson
Brian Cox	...	Chief Hatfield, Durham P.D.
Richard T. Jones	...	Seth Samuel
Roma Maffia	...	Dr. Ruocco
Jeremy Piven	...	Henry Castillo, LAPD
Gina Ravera	...	Naomi Cross
William Converse-Roberts	...	Dr. Wick Sachs
Helen Martin	...	Nana Cross
Tatyana Ali	...	Janell Cross (as Tatyana M. Ali)

MPAA:

Rated R for terror, violence and language.

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Mandarin

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:16 | USA:R (certificate #34956) | South Korea:18 | Philippines:PG-13 | Netherlands:12 (TV version) | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Belgium:KNT | Brazil:14 | Chile:18 | Denmark:15 | Finland:K-16 | Germany:16 | Netherlands:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:18 | Peru:18 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:NC-16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18

Filming Locations:

Bell Tower, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

At one point, Denzel Washington was to star, but he had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts, and Morgan Freeman was brought into the project.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: Naomi's boyfriend mentions that the river in Durham offers good trout fishing. The Eno River (which runs through northern Durham) offers no trout as do no other piedmont NC rivers. To find trout you'd have to go to the NC mountains. I found this to be a particularly bothersome error considering that when he said it, one could still suspect that he might have something to do with the girls' abduction, and that his error might be a clue that Alex Cross would later use.

Quotes:

Det. Davey Skes: Sure picks lookers, doesn't he?
Alex Cross: Yeah, he does. But you know these women are more than just attractive. They're all extraodinary in some way. Smart, talented.
Det. Davey Skes: He ain't choosing them just for their congeniality.
Alex Cross: Ordinarily, they don't, but I think our guy is a little different.
Detective Nick Ruskin: How so?
Alex Cross: I think killing's not his ulterior motive. This guy's a collector. I bet these women are alive.
Det. Davey Skes: Come on, doc. Our boy's brain is soft as a two-minute egg and nothing personal, but I figure every one of them gals is tied to a tree just waiting to get found.
Alex Cross: Think about it, Sikes. The three you found were killed out of sequence. They weren't even among the first abducted.
Det. Davey Skes: That's right.
Detective Nick Ruskin: That don't mean they're not still out there.
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Anatomy of a 'Homicide: Life on the Street' (1998) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Now You Do

good story that doesn't fully deliver in the end

Detective Alex Cross is an experienced, astute forensic psychologist. He's brought in to aid in the investigation of a slippery criminal mastermind with a track record for abducting young women who are both beautiful and talented. The case becomes personal when one of the women abducted is his niece, and he enlists the aid of a local doctor (Judd) and former victim who escaped from the same perpetrator and is the only living person who can identify him. Stylish, atmospheric, well-crafted thriller has a story that holds your interest, with some effective twists and strong performances from Freeman and Judd, but it all builds toward a climax that doesn't quite payoff. Still, a respectable showing for all those involved. **½