Just a Kiss Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)October 10th, 2002
JUST A KISS
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2002 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
Fisher Stevens's JUST A KISS is just a waste -- a waste of good actors' talents and a waste of your time. The actors go through the motions, but none of them visibly care for their work, which is not surprising given how unappealingly their characters are written.
A musical bed comedy, the movie concerns a collection of people who sleep with whoever is closest. The opening scene has a woman awaking from a drunken stupor. She isn't sure who the guy is that she slept with. She feels a bit better when he tells her that he had had a performance problem the night before and wasn't quite able to consummate their tryst.
When the characters, played by Ron Eldard, Kyra Sedgwick, Patrick Breen, Marisa Tomei, Marley Shelton and Taye Diggs, aren't engaged in sexual escapades, they do things like showing off their suicide scars.
Ah, then there is the film's wonderful dialog. "You were a much better dancer when you were a bulimic," Rebecca's (Marley Shelton) mother and the head of her dance company yells at her during rehearsal. "Why don't you take that up again? We could keep buckets at both ends of the stage." There's nothing like motherly love.
Only as a possible advertisement for Sharper Image could the movie have worked. The characters use what has to be the world's tiniest cell phone. Sharper Image missed a good opportunity by not getting their name on it since the phone is the only memorable part of the production. (Well, there is also random rotoscoping of the images, à la WAKING LIFE, but it is done only for effect and not a very impressive effect at that.)
JUST A KISS runs 1:29. It is rated R for "strong sexual images and language" and would be acceptable for older teenagers.
The film is playing now in nationwide release in the United States. In the Silicon Valley it is showing at the Camera Cinemas and the Century theaters.
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Originally posted in the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup. Copyright belongs to original author unless otherwise stated. We take no responsibilities nor do we endorse the contents of this review.
