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:

Detective | Serial Killer | Casanova | Kidnapping | Police

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:

Continuity: Near the end when Casanova has thrown the girl on the table, he pulls her shirt up revealing her stomach. When the camera angle changes, her stomach is covered by a white shirt.

Quotes:

Dr. William 'Will' Rudolph: Naomi, play us something triumphant, something worthy of rebirth. Play something for me.
[yells]
Dr. William 'Will' Rudolph: Play!
Casanova: NO! She plays for me.
Dr. William 'Will' Rudolph: She only plays for you? Well of course she does! Because you are the great lover!
[pulls a blade from his pocket and walks towards Naomi]
Dr. William 'Will' Rudolph: The dark figure of her dreams!
[to Naomi]
Dr. William 'Will' Rudolph: Come on darlin. Tell him.
[puts blade to her throat]
[...]

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

I'll Go Crazy

Still better than average.

This movie is not among the best but still has more to offer than the average thriller. This is mostly due to its cast and fine thriller concept, that however doesn't always gets handled well.

Not all plot-lines get handled and wrapped up properly and the movie leaves some loose ends. The movie also picks some not so likely approaches with each story sometimes, which goes at the expensive of the credibility- and therefore also the tension of the movie.

It's a movie that had the potential of becoming a real dark and eerie thriller, I mean the concept of the movie would definitely allow this but the movie gets somewhere stuck between its successful and not so successful thriller moments.

Guess Morgan Freeman wanted to make another "Se7en" like thriller. Well, it's not completely fair to compare this movie to "Se7en" but because Morgan Freeman is in it and it's from about the same period, it's easy and tempting to do so. Also with some imagination the plots and approaches of both movies show some similarities. But unfortunately "Kiss the Girls" is nowhere in the same league as "Se7en" but fans of the genre will still find plenty to enjoy in this movie.

The movie features all of the right required thriller ingredients. So a psychopath, a cop trying to solve the case and of course a couple of plot twists. It also has all the right looks for a thriller. The movie has the right sort of dark undertone and handles some of its moments effectively.

The movie truly benefits from its cast. Morgan Freeman is an experienced actor and always good in these sort of roles. The movie also among other features; Ashley Judd, Cary Elwes, Bill Nunn, Brian Cox and Jeremy Piven.

A better than average thriller.

7/10