Starring Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Cary Elwes, Tony Goldwyn, Jay O. Sanders, Bill Nunn, Brian Cox, Gina Ravera.
Written by David Klass based on the novel by James Patterson.
Directed by Gary Fleder.

Grade: D+

Review by Carlo Cavagna.

Kiss the Girls, yet another imitation of The Silence of the Lambs and Seven, falls into the category of films that have potential but are completely botched. It stars Morgan Freeman as a fatherly, stoic, and yet somewhat melancholy (gee, that's a stretch) forensic psychologist named Alex Cross. Dr. Cross lives in Washington, D.C., but soon heads for North Carolina when his niece Naomi (Gina Ravera) disappears. There he teams up with local detective Cary Elwes to find Naomi and a half-dozen other women who have vanished under similar circumstances.

Ashley Judd co-stars as a kickboxing doctor, continuing the current movie trend of brilliant female scientists who must have entered graduate school in their early teens because they all look like they're twenty years old. Kiss the Girls was actually only a plot twist away from introducing a romantic entaglement between Freeman and Judd, which, because of the age difference and the lack of any chemistry whatsoever, would have constituted just cause for revoking screenwriter David Klass's Guild license.

Still, Kiss the Girls is educational. We learn many things from this movie. For example:

     • If a kidnapping victim manages to escape from a demented serial killer's hideout, you may want to carefully check the area in which she was found for the aforementioned hideout.

     • When about to plunge into the bowels of the killer's dungeon all by your lonesome, you may want to consider calling for backup.

     • If you're in a second-rate thriller, you may want to be suspicious of all the supporting cast members.

     • If you're standing directly in front of a minivan pointing a gun at the driver and instructing the driver to put his hands where you can see them, and if the driver is failing to follow your instructions while leering maniacally at you for several seconds, you may wish to prepare for the possibility that he will step on the accelerator.

     • Apparently there are gritty working-class boxing gyms in Georgetown, the fanciest and most expensive neighborhood in Washington.

Review © November 1997 by AboutFilm.Com and the author.
Image © 1997 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

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