This movie is relevant for several reasons. The first one, is that it's the first movie with Morgan Freeman as the only male lead (Seven had Pitt billed as lead). You can count with one hand the number of movies with african-american leads in the 90’s. This movie also jumpstarted Ashley Judd's film career (she was fresh from 4 seasons in Sisters) and prompted her as a main female lead for about nine movies (including one more with Morgan Freeman). It's also one of the few James Patterson's screen adaptations, and probably the best of them (Along Came A Spider is not as good and Alex Cross is just awful). In retrospective, the problem with Kiss The Girls is that the part that happens in California was re-cut and re-shot by the producers, and it feels rushed and part of a whole different movie. Gary Fleder is a very talented director, but critics felt he was too young at the time (most of his credits were in TV, and this was his second feature), so the critics were very harsh about his gritty visual style, that now happens to be the norm in film and TV. Finally, the film was too dark for the 90's (even with the over-stylish and not explicit shots), both in theme and style and the American audience just wasn't ready for its visual language. In 1997 this movie was released against Titanic, JP2, The World Is Not Enough, Men In Black, Air Force One and The Fifth Element at the same time in the box office, and suffered for it, because the marketing was scarce, too focused on the American public, and Paramount barely spent any money to promote it overseas. It's an excellent dark movie, that just got lost in the glitter.

Not that bad of a movie. Gets involved in a sex ring. Alex Cross has to figure out if she a victim or a participant.

Morgan Freeman is quite effective here in this adaptation of James Patterson's novel about the kidnap of the niece of this police psychologist/detective. Racing to her North Carolina school, "Cross" discovers pretty quickly that she is likely to be the latest in a line of youngsters abused and killed at the hands of the so-called "Casanova"! Fortunately, one of his would be victims - "Kate" (Ashley Judd) - manages to escape her captivity, and with "Cross" and time very much against them, tries to track down this murderer. It stays fairly faithful to the book and that's maybe why it doesn't quite work. The narrative is really rather dry, the dialogue all a bit too wordy and though the subject matter is quite disturbing, there isn't a great deal of menace on show for us here. "Cross" is just too clever; the clues too obscure for us but childsplay for him, and after a while that starts to grate a little. The best examples of this genre allow the audience to participate in the manhunt along with the characters. Not so much here. Freeman owns the screen, as usual, and Judd is perfectly acceptable as his feisty and determined sidekick as we head to a denouement that has just enough jeopardy to keep it interesting. There are loads of "Alex Cross" books, so I would expect more from this character - I hope this is but a bedrock for a darker and more complex sequel.

_**Starts good and becomes increasingly farfetched**_

A serial killer is loose in Durham, North Carolina, who’s actually a serial collector of young women. Forensic psychologist Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman) ventures down from D.C. to assist in the investigation since his niece is one of the victims. He eventually teams-up with a surgeon who escaped the perpetrator’s lair (Ashley Judd). Cary Elwes and Tony Goldwyn are also on hand.

“Kiss the Girls” (1997) is a detective thriller in the mold of “Silence of the Lambs” (1991) with some “Se7en” (1995) and a dash of “Scream” (1996), but less gruesome and therefore presumably more palatable to a larger audience. What I appreciate most about this flick is the lush nighttime sylvan cinematography. The cast is good as well.

The first half is great for this genre, but the story gets progressively implausible from there with a muddled midsection. And then there’s the ‘big reveal’ at the end, which was predictable from the get-go. At the end of the day “Kiss the Girls” is worthwhile if you like detective thrillers and the cast, but be prepared for a wildly unrealistic tale. The sequel, “Along Came a Spider” (2001), had the same problem where the ‘big reveal’ is even more eye-rolling.

The film runs 1 hour, 55 minutes, and was shot in North Carolina and Southern Cal.

GRADE: C

Watched this one again last night and still holds up as a solid 1990s crime-thriller based on the James Patterson novel with a great cast headlined by Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd as well as Cary Elwes, Tony Goldwyn, Brian Cox, Jay O. Sanders and Jeremy Piven. **3.75/5**