Kiss the Girls (1997)

Load of rubbish!!

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

There is a particularly insidious predator operating out of Durham, North Carolina. Dubbing himself Casanova, he considers himself a connoisseur of extraordinary women, and holds them prisoner. He actually only kills the feisty ones; the ladies who have the audacity to ignore his "rules". However, he makes a major mistake when he abducts Naomi Cross (Gina Ravera), the niece of Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman), a brilliant forensic psychologist from Washington, D.C. Alex, having a personal stake in this mission, vows to identify the sicko, acquiring some much needed help from one young woman, intern Kate McTiernan (Ashley Judd), who to date has been the only lady to successfully escape the killers' clutches.For a mainstream thriller from Hollywood, this adaptation of the James Patterson novel is actually pretty entertaining. It's not perfect - far from it. For example, the eventual way that Cross ultimately I.D.s Casanova is laughable. The film is very slick, and extremely well paced, and shies away from graphic violence (for the most part), which squeamish viewers will appreciate. In some ways, it's believable; Cross and compatriots such as his cousin Sampson (Bill Nunn) pursue leads and sometimes run into dead ends. They're not immune from f-ups. Ultimately, "Kiss the Girls" is formulaic fare, and becomes more and more so as it plays out, with your typical Big Hollywood ending where the monster has no choice but to reveal themselves. But there's one fresh plot twist along the way, giving "Kiss the Girls" a bit of an edge. It's directed with some style by Gary Fleder, in his first major effort; he went on to other thrillers such as "Don't Say a Word" and "Runaway Jury".Excellent location shooting helps, as well as an impressively disgusting lair in which Casanova can place his victims.Freeman is an ideal choice for the hero role, projecting his typical soft-spoken sense of authority. Judd shines as a fairly tough cookie who has no intention of being treated as a victim. She also feels a sense of responsibility to her fellow prisoners, harbouring some guilt over leaving them behind. There are lots of familiar faces among the supporting players: Cary Elwes, Tony Goldwyn, Jay O. Sanders, Brian Cox, Roma Maffia, Jeremy Piven, Helen Martin, Tatyana Ali, Mena Suvari, Billy Blanks, etc. Anna Maria Horsford and Tracey Walter appear uncredited.All in all, this works out well, thanks to that cast and crew; the film is a few minutes shy of two hours long, but the time practically flies by, with no filler to have to sit through.Seven out of 10.

Kiss the Girls had a heck of a lot going for it.Morgan Freeman, you have to give it a chance. Think about it, has the man ever been young? Yes? No? I've never seen him anything but old, but who cares, I've never really seen him do a bad job either.And now he's the new Leonard Nimoy isn't he? The narrator of absolutely everything. The voice of countless documentaries.Ashley Judd, not exactly a bad actress is she? Sure, in the 90s she may have kinda sorts looked like a clone of Jolie, but she always did a far better job. No matter what the movie she's been solid.Cary Elwes, why isn't he in more movies? He's sort of like a British Errol Flynn, totally fun to watch and a great sense of comedic timing. What was he doing in a movie like this? Who cares, we'll add that to the reasons to9 watch it anyway.And then, in small print, you see the name, you see that name: James Patterson. You almost have to cringe whenever you read it.Ever been on a long flight? You've probably read one of his novels and if you have it's been out of a sick desperation to kill time.James Patterson, yeah, world famous for making the clichéd crime novel. The same clichéd crime novel. Sure, the names change, the crime changes, but in the end it's like the cheap procedurals you watch on TV. Every one you watch is almost exactly like every other one you will and have ever seen.Unfortunately, despite the cast, the James Patterson effect takes hold of "Kiss the Girls" and you walk out of the theater with that irritating sense of deja vu. You've been there before, you've gone to that movie before, and in a few short days this film is going to blend in a confusing mess with all the other films you've seen that were almost exactly like it.

Purely an utterly mediocre TV-quality movie that Morgan Freeman no doubt chose to star in mostly to pad his bank account. (I truly hope that he doesn't actually have this bad a taste in scripts, except when he's hungry for Benjamins.) I can't honestly say that it was completely terrible, but it definitely wasn't worth the time lost, and it wasn't all that original either--just a jumble of stuff that mostly seems to have been used before with, admittedly, a few new elements. There are plot holes left and right, and the cops and FBI all seem to be pretty incompetent (God, I hope I don't ever have to depend on this quality of law enforcement). The mild torture porn scenes were so intentionally aimed at titillation that they were basically just annoying. No performances, including Freeman's, were particularly captivating, although none embarrassingly bad either. Uninspired would be the best way to describe this whole experience. I have to admit that I didn't know who was the killer until it was revealed, but when it was, it was totally unconvincing. A day later, it's even more unconvincing. The reason you can't guess the identity of the evil mastermind is that it doesn't really work well with the story at all--the motive and personality never seemed like it was ever there. That particular character was never developed much at all in the movie. It looks like the story writers (Patterson doesn't write most of his own work, as I understand it) picked the villain simply because it would be very hard to guess, and for no other reason. (Maybe the book was better, but in this case I seriously doubt it, and the book would waste more of your life.) Therefore, as far as who did it, I don't feel thick at all for not having a clue. Which is a good way to summarize this movie: clueless.

Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd give award winning performances in my mind,, Tony Goldwyn also does a fine job acting in this picture,, a forensic psychologist is called in on a case when women end up missing or dead,, among those missing are his niece, so he has a personal involvement in the case.. another woman narrowly escapes with her life from the grasp of the killer, and goes on national TV to explain what happened to her , as to bring out the killer, there she meets Alex Cross the forensic psychologist,, and together those two will team up to try and find the killer or killers.. very intriguing movie,, very fast paced action packed, thrill ride to the finish,, freeman and judd give fine performances in this picture,, this is a definite recommend to anyone a fan of the genre.