PRELUDE TO A KISS
A film review by Frank Maloney
Copyright 1992 Frank Maloney
PRELUDE TO A KISS is a film directed by Norman Rene, from a screenplay by Craig Lucas. It stars Alec Baldwin, Meg Ryan, Sydney Walker, with Kathy Bates, Patty Duke, and Ned Beatty. Rated PG-13, due to language.
PRELUDE TO A KISS suffers from coming so late in the nearly exhausted cycle of body-switching comedies that infested the movie screens in the 80s, the best being probably BIG, the most profitable GHOST, the most ill-timed PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED, the most sleazy one that escapes my mind just now but was a remake of a 60s sleazoid comedy about a sleazeball who comes back as a woman [SWITCH -Mod.]. By now, most of us have had about all we want of this particular subgenre for the next few years. This is unfortunate because PRELUDE is a sweet, likable film with some winning performances. The story is also a little thin and would have benefited from some interesting subplot, such as one exploiting the charming performance by the man who plays Peter's (Alec Baldwin) best friend. I think Peter's friend is gay, not because he kisses Peter just before the wedding but because of something in the dialog about the friend never getting married.
In fact one of the most interesting and successful aspects of PRELUDE is the skillful and sensitive way it handles the homosexual tensions inherent in the situation, to wit an old man's soul in a young woman's body and vice versa. It's true that the script descends into smirking humor once or twice, principally when Sydney Walker in his own body and "in Meg Ryan's," as it were, goes out of his way to say that Baldwin wasn't to his taste as a lover. On the other, and more convincing hand, we are presented with some intimate moments and one very tender kiss between Walker and Baldwin. By comparison look at the tricky way GHOST avoided showing us Whoopi Goldberg being kissed by a woman (again).
This is the pleasantest role I've seen Baldwin in. He is quirky, sexy, sensitive, passionately devoted to getting at the truth about his wife's change in character and to righting a great wrong. He expresses tender emotions lightly and convincingly and his finely tuned performance anchors the movie.
Meg Ryan is a good choice for the bohemian, darkly figured Rita, who is so afraid of life that she can barely restrain her love of death. Ryan is appealing and quite comfortable with what is effectively a dual role.
The showiest performance, and the one that may be remembered at Oscar time, is Walker's. The bitter, dying, absent old man who rediscovers the preciousness of life, even a dying life. He has a couple of powerful speeches that are the moral center of this film.
The film is adapted from a stage play, which is probably why it is talkier than most movies, given to speeches more than dialog. No throw-away lines here; every word is to a purpose. Otherwise, the transition from stage to screen is mostly seamless and more successful than most such adaptations.
Mention also ought to be made of the fine, but brief supporting roles from Kathy Bates as Walker's daughter, from Ned Beatty and Patty Duke as Ryan's parents.
The moments of all-out magic may be not as magical on the screen as on the stage, but the rest of this story is handled mostly convincingly thanks to the excellence of the actors and some sensitive direction from Norman Rene, the director of the 1989 AIDS drama, LONG TIME COMPANION.
I recommend PRELUDE to anyone with a taste for the romantic, the life-affirming, for the witty and erotic. This is a charmer and I very much enjoyed it even at full ticket price.
-- Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney .
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