Kiss the Girls

Starring: Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Cary Elwes, Alex McArthur, Tony Goldwyn, Jay O. Sanders, Bill Nunn, Brian Cox, Jeremy Piven, Mena Suvari
Directed by: Gary Fleder
Rating: R
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
1997

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Dr. Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman) teams with a kidnap victim (Ashley Judd) who escaped, to track down her kidnapper before he murders the other girls he abducted.

Review:

Tim: I really enjoyed Kiss the Girls. Sure, it might be a bit of a flawed movie, but Hollywood just doesn't make enough of these entertaining crime thrillers. They can really be a lot of fun, especially when they keep you guessing like this one. I think the character of Alex Cross, created by James Patterson, is interesting and fun to watch. I very much enjoyed this film.

The premise is pretty interesting. We have a kidnapper and murderer who abducts pretty, young, talented women. He eventually murders them. Dr. Alex Cross is a famous detective who gets involved in the case when his niece is kidnapped by the murderer. It's enjoyable to see a talented, brilliant man spurred into action when a crime hits a bit too close to home. We are very interested in whether or not he'll find his niece before she is murdered, and whether he'll find the killer at all. The movie does a good job of setting up the villain as an intelligent force to be reckoned with. It all makes for pretty strong drama, and it certainly holds our attention.

Casting Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross was a brilliant move. Freeman is such a good actor, and he so easily connects with the audience. I really, really liked the character of Cross as Freeman plays him. He's intelligent, strong, kind, and he makes for a protagonist you can really get behind. While he does feel like a character we've seen many times before, it doesn't seem like a big deal in Freeman's hands. While he's not an instantly recognizable, memorable character, he's still fun to watch on screen.

Ashley Judd was a good choice to play a kidnap victim who escapes, and Cross' only connection to the killer. I thought she gave a strong, believable performance. She worked well playing against Freeman, and she had enough of an everywoman quality that audiences could certainly identify with her. I will say that her whole involvement in the case and the extent to which she's involved definitely pushes the boundaries of realism. I felt like this was one of the big weaknesses in the story, but I did appreciate the screen time she got.

The rest of the cast is good. We have small performances by Cary Elwes, Brian Cox, and Jeremy Piven. It was fun to see them here, although none of them make a particularly lasting impact. Still, their presence was welcome.

While the story definitely requires a good deal of suspending our disbelief, I found the film to be a taut, twisting, exciting movie. It kept me interested and intrigued to find out how it would all turn out. I really enjoyed Kiss the Girls and I definitely look forward to more Alex Cross movies in the future.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



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