KISS OF DEATH
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1995 James Berardinelli
RATING (0 TO 10): 5.2
U.S. Availability: wide release 4/21/95 Running Length: 1:40 MPAA Classification: R (Violence, language, nudity)
Starring: David Caruso, Nicolas Cage, Samuel L. Jackson, Stanley Tucci, Katherine Erbe, Ving Rhames, Helen Hunt, Michael Rapaport Director: Barbet Schroeder Producers: Barbet Schroeder and Susan Hoffman Screenplay: Richard Price Cinematography: Luciano Tovoli Music: Trevor Jones Released by Twentieth Century Fox
There are about as many sublassifications in the thriller genre as there are TV talk show hosts. There's the noir thriller (BLOOD SIMPLE), the action thriller (DIE HARD), the "cop" thriller (anything starring Clint Eastwood), the "twist and manipulate the audience" thriller (BASIC INSTINCT), the "artsy" thriller (PULP FICTION), the exploitation thriller (anything with Shannon Tweed), and the "nothing much happens" thriller. 1995's version of KISS OF DEATH (the script is based on a 1947 screenplay) deserves placement in the last category.
This is the second consecutive lackluster film delivered by REVERSAL OF FORTUNE director Barbet Schroeder. Like his last effort, SINGLE WHITE FEMALE, KISS OF DEATH boasts an interesting cast; lush, atmospheric cinematography; and a hole-riddled plot. Despite a one- hundred minute running time, the movie fails to resolve several obvious hanging threads, and the climax is so weak that the only real clue that the credits are about to roll is a slow pull back and pan by the camera.
The film opens with Jimmy Kilmartin (David Caruso, late of NYPD BLUE) enjoying the rigors of everyday family life with wife Bev (Helen Hunt) and baby daughter Karina. Jimmy is recently out of prison, having served a term for car theft, and is willing to do just about anything to keep on the good side of the law. But when an old buddy, Ronnie (Michael Rapaport), fears for his life if he doesn't get help pulling off a massive car heist, Jimmy reluctantly agrees to accompany him. Not unexpectedly, things go badly. Ronnie gets away, but Jimmy is busted and a cop (Samuel L. Jackson) is shot in the face. DA Frank Zioli (Stanley Tucci) wants to make a deal with his lone prisoner/potential informant, but Jimmy won't talk about the others involved and, while his silence earns him extra time in Sing Sing, it buys the gratitude of wiseguy Little Junior Brown (Nicolas Cage), a nutcase who likes beating people to death with his bare hands.
KISS OF DEATH generally meanders, taking quite a few unnecessary and ultimately pointless detours. The basic storyline probably wouldn't satisfy half the running time, making it necessary to find something to pad out the film. The result is a great deal of running around, meaningless and unconvincing attempts at character and relationship building, and a horribly manipulative "child in jeopardy" scenario. A pair of fine performances (by Helen Hunt as Jimmy's wife and Katherine Erbe as his babysitter) are wasted.
There are the expected double-crosses and revelations, but KISS OF DEATH's twists are neither momentous nor surprising. The entire film is rather low-key, which might be an asset if the script wasn't in need of at least one more rewrite. The somber tone and New York setting recall Robert DeNiro's 1992 remake of NIGHT AND THE CITY, another motion picture that failed to live up to expectations.
The acting is very much a mixed bag. David Caruso, who gets top billing after leaving TV's NYPD BLUE for a "motion picture career" (although this is by no means his first feature role), is unspectacular, bringing little to a largely underdeveloped role. Stanley Tucci is suitably slimy as the prototypical self-serving politician in a three- piece suit, and Nicolas Cage (who must have put on about forty pounds of pure muscle for the part) is at his over-the-top, vicious best as the main villain. Samuel L. Jackson, who has fashioned a reputation as one of today's finest actors, turns in another on-the-mark performance as a police officer trying to resolve conflicting emotions about his quarry.
KISS OF DEATH fits in well amidst the mostly-bland crop of releases clogging theaters this spring. With a theatrical trailer far better than the actual picture, Schroeder's film delivers little more than a healthy dose of disappointment. The picture is watchable, but nothing about it will linger, except perhaps the feeling that, with a more polished script, it might have been significantly better.
-James Berardinelli (jberardinell@delphi.com)
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