Usually, romantic comedies are not really taken seriously as they tend to be seen as simple fluff meant only to provide light hearted entertainment. Like in action films and horror films, the overuse of the enormous amount of clichés and typical plot devices, has turned the sub-genre into a stereotype, where stories become predictable as the basic structure has been done countless times before. While this predictability is most definitely a problem, occasionally a movie appears that despite following the typical pattern of the genre, manages to stand out among the rest; and even when at its core it still is a typical romantic comedy, it shines with a light of its own due to the way the film is executed. "French Kiss" is one of those movies, a film that despite being no masterpiece of cinema, achieves its original purpose without problem: to provide good light hearted entertainment by telling a charming story about two equally charming characters.
"French Kiss" is the story of Kate (Meg Ryan), a young woman who after moving to Canada, where his boyfriend Charlie (Timothy Hutton) lives, begins to make preparations for a future with him. However, all her plans crumble when on a business trip to France, Charlie meets another woman (Susan Anbeh), and falls deeply in love with her, deciding to remain in France and cancel his wedding plans with Kate. Deeply hurt by Charlie's decision, Kate decides to overcome her fear of flying and travels to France decided to recover her boyfriend. On the trip she meets Luc Teyssier (Kevin Kline), a charming Frenchman who strangely decides to help her. Kate doesn't know that the odd Bon Vivant she has met, has hidden a stolen piece of jewelry in her purse and now wants it back. Problems begin when Kate's purse is stolen, making both to work together to recover the stolen purse, and its contents.
Written by Adam Brooks, "French Kiss" certainly follows the basic blueprint of romantic comedies: it chronicles the misadventures of a couple that dislikes each other but that after working together discover a certain attraction between them. At first sight it would seem that it's just another typical romantic comedy (with the addition of a French setting); however, and despite the far fetched plot, Brooks makes the story somewhat believable and it surprisingly works in the end. While the romance is the focus of the film, Brooks makes some cleverly written scenes, playing with the French and American stereotypes of each other in small, yet very funny scenes with his assortment of quirky supporting characters. "French Kiss" is not exactly the definition of realistic, but in the end is this romanticizing of the story what becomes the film's main strength.
Kasdan takes a straight forward approach to the script, making an excellent use of his cast to bring the story to life. It is really his work with the actors what makes the movie a bit more believable than what the script makes it to be, as while Kasdan still can't avoid some silly and unrealistic dialogs, the performances of his cast make them work to an extent. The real star of the film is Owen Roizman's cinematography, who under Kasdan's direction portrays France's both urban and countryside landscapes with great talent, making the amazing beauty of the country to show off in many scenes. Kasdan follows Brook's theme of making jokes about American tourists, and constructs visual gags (a simple, yet very creative pun about watching the Eiffel Tower is cleverly used through the film) that spice up the love story between Kate and Luc, adding some diversity to break up the monotony.
The cast is what really makes "French Kiss" to stand out among similar movies. At the peak of her "romantic comedy phase", Meg Ryan was delightfully charming as the main character, Kate. With her natural charm and talent, this character was definitely piece of cake for her, and she makes what otherwise could be a two dimensional character a bit more enjoyable. Kevin Kline is the highlight of the film, making a very convincing Frenchman in his portrait of Luc. It's a shame that the producers decided to hire a non-Frenchman for the role, but fortunately Kline delivers an excellent and very believable performance as the witty crook more interested in what's inside of Kate's purse than in her person. Timothy Hutton is definitely the weakest link in the cast, as not only his character was badly written, his performance is not really good and looks really out of place in the film. French actors Jean Reno and François Cluzet have small supporting roles, and they truly make the best of them. Cluzet is very funny and Reno completely steals every scene he is in.
As written above, the script is plagued with many flaws, that while were somewhat corrected by Lawrence Kasdan and his cast, at times manage to come out and hurt the film. The real problem is not in the far fetched situation that makes the couple meet, but in the development of the event that start all: Hutton's character is simply poorly developed and not believable in his actions. Ryan's characters is better done, but it takes Meg Ryan's performance to make her likable, as Kate is not exactly a sympathetic character to begin with. Don't get me wrong, Brooks' story is fun and charming, but it the events before Kate's trip to France really drag and make the film look uninteresting.
"French Kiss" is a very 90s romantic comedy but with touches of those classic screwball comedies of old, where realism was sent to the backseat and romance used to drive the story. It's not really a masterpiece of the genre, like say "Annie Hall" or "When Harry met Sally", but "French Kiss" gets the job done thanks to the charming performances of the cast, and the magic of the French landscapes. 7/10
"French Kiss" is the story of Kate (Meg Ryan), a young woman who after moving to Canada, where his boyfriend Charlie (Timothy Hutton) lives, begins to make preparations for a future with him. However, all her plans crumble when on a business trip to France, Charlie meets another woman (Susan Anbeh), and falls deeply in love with her, deciding to remain in France and cancel his wedding plans with Kate. Deeply hurt by Charlie's decision, Kate decides to overcome her fear of flying and travels to France decided to recover her boyfriend. On the trip she meets Luc Teyssier (Kevin Kline), a charming Frenchman who strangely decides to help her. Kate doesn't know that the odd Bon Vivant she has met, has hidden a stolen piece of jewelry in her purse and now wants it back. Problems begin when Kate's purse is stolen, making both to work together to recover the stolen purse, and its contents.
Written by Adam Brooks, "French Kiss" certainly follows the basic blueprint of romantic comedies: it chronicles the misadventures of a couple that dislikes each other but that after working together discover a certain attraction between them. At first sight it would seem that it's just another typical romantic comedy (with the addition of a French setting); however, and despite the far fetched plot, Brooks makes the story somewhat believable and it surprisingly works in the end. While the romance is the focus of the film, Brooks makes some cleverly written scenes, playing with the French and American stereotypes of each other in small, yet very funny scenes with his assortment of quirky supporting characters. "French Kiss" is not exactly the definition of realistic, but in the end is this romanticizing of the story what becomes the film's main strength.
Kasdan takes a straight forward approach to the script, making an excellent use of his cast to bring the story to life. It is really his work with the actors what makes the movie a bit more believable than what the script makes it to be, as while Kasdan still can't avoid some silly and unrealistic dialogs, the performances of his cast make them work to an extent. The real star of the film is Owen Roizman's cinematography, who under Kasdan's direction portrays France's both urban and countryside landscapes with great talent, making the amazing beauty of the country to show off in many scenes. Kasdan follows Brook's theme of making jokes about American tourists, and constructs visual gags (a simple, yet very creative pun about watching the Eiffel Tower is cleverly used through the film) that spice up the love story between Kate and Luc, adding some diversity to break up the monotony.
The cast is what really makes "French Kiss" to stand out among similar movies. At the peak of her "romantic comedy phase", Meg Ryan was delightfully charming as the main character, Kate. With her natural charm and talent, this character was definitely piece of cake for her, and she makes what otherwise could be a two dimensional character a bit more enjoyable. Kevin Kline is the highlight of the film, making a very convincing Frenchman in his portrait of Luc. It's a shame that the producers decided to hire a non-Frenchman for the role, but fortunately Kline delivers an excellent and very believable performance as the witty crook more interested in what's inside of Kate's purse than in her person. Timothy Hutton is definitely the weakest link in the cast, as not only his character was badly written, his performance is not really good and looks really out of place in the film. French actors Jean Reno and François Cluzet have small supporting roles, and they truly make the best of them. Cluzet is very funny and Reno completely steals every scene he is in.
As written above, the script is plagued with many flaws, that while were somewhat corrected by Lawrence Kasdan and his cast, at times manage to come out and hurt the film. The real problem is not in the far fetched situation that makes the couple meet, but in the development of the event that start all: Hutton's character is simply poorly developed and not believable in his actions. Ryan's characters is better done, but it takes Meg Ryan's performance to make her likable, as Kate is not exactly a sympathetic character to begin with. Don't get me wrong, Brooks' story is fun and charming, but it the events before Kate's trip to France really drag and make the film look uninteresting.
"French Kiss" is a very 90s romantic comedy but with touches of those classic screwball comedies of old, where realism was sent to the backseat and romance used to drive the story. It's not really a masterpiece of the genre, like say "Annie Hall" or "When Harry met Sally", but "French Kiss" gets the job done thanks to the charming performances of the cast, and the magic of the French landscapes. 7/10