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A Kiss Before Dying
Infatuated with the idea of becoming rich, college student Jonathan Corliss secretly dates Dorothy Carlsson to gain the approval of her wealthy father. When Dorothy tells Jonathan that she is pregnant and that her father will deny her inheritance if he finds out, Jonathan murders her, but he stages her death as a suicide. As Jonathan works his way onto Mr. Carlsson's payroll, Dorothy's twin sister, Ellen, investigates the apparent suicide.
Release : | 1991 |
Rating : | 5.7 |
Studio : | Universal Pictures, Initial Pictures, Kellgate Limited, |
Crew : | Art Department Assistant, Art Direction, |
Cast : | Matt Dillon Sean Young Max von Sydow Diane Ladd James Russo |
Genre : | Thriller Crime Mystery |
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Waste of time
People are voting emotionally.
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
Realising his secret girlfriend Dorothy's pregnancy will sour her relations with her rich father, career-minded student Jonathan murders her, making it look like suicide. He then moves to New York to make a move on her twin Ellen, and soon, they marry.All seems to go well for him, although Ellen's continued investigations into what she is convinced was no suicide forces him to kill again......Erotic thrillers were released every week in the late eighties and nineties, and as you'd expect, there were a load of stinkers between the golden nuggets, and for every time Michael Douglas popped up, Madonna popped out in Body Of Evidence...This falls somewhere between the two, a quick remake of a classic movie to make a few million, but this, unfortunately, is woefully miscast.Dillon is usually a great actor, but as the film goes on, and he becomes increasingly more suspicious, he seems to channel the T-1000, because he just turns up at any old place, says nothing, and kills, and this is for over half of the film.Young, well she plays dual roles, and if like myself, you were relieved when one of her roles ended quickly, wait until you meet the mirror opposite sister, all quiet, timid, but never too busy to take her clothes off.Nothing's ever really explained as to why he is like he is, although it's hinted that his father may have thrown himself under a train belonging to Youngs dad, but the film is in too much of a hurry to get to the next titillating scene to give a clear enough explanation.But the film is very visceral with its portrayal of violence, and two key death scenes are extremely brutal, as these sort of films usually concentrate on the love scenes.All in all its an average affair, but watchable fluff.
Usually when a person is so motivated to go to any lengths to achieve his dream it's depicted as a good thing. But when that person is Jonathan Corliss (Dillon), it's a nightmare for those who care about him and bloody executions for those who stand in his way.Matt Dillon's performance as a charming psychopath is what works very well in "A Kiss Before Dying". Corliss, a blue collar Philadelphia lad with huge ambitions, sets his sights on a Copper Baron's (Max Von Sydow) empire and plans to become a member of the family. When it becomes necessary to dispose of the Baron's daughter (Sean Young), Corliss (under an alias) moves on to her twin sister (Young again) and enters the family. But hiding his tracks and his former life proves quite the hassle and Corliss has no reservations with killing every one who stands in his way of greatness in the Copper business.A double doze of Sean Young is a bit too much to take; she's simply an astonishingly bad actress but Dillon more than makes up for that. His Jonathan Corliss is a very memorable psychopath. It's never made crystal clear as to why he set his sights solely on Von Sydow's empire but his journey on the way is suspenseful. It's not a very graphic film but it does have some very nasty moments and disturbing death scenes.Director Dearden makes no attempts in admitting his affection for Alfred Hitchcock and some moments here are obviously a tribute to the old master of suspense. The ending does feel a bit rushed but overall "A Kiss Before Dying" is an above average thriller with some striking and memorable set pieces.
Why do they do it? Just because a film was made once in the fifties, someone thinks they need to remake it with today's hot stars. At least they could improve on the story.The most glaring hole in this version is the fact that the father (Max von Sydow) hired a private detective to investigate the boyfriend of his daughter, and yet he declined to investigate the boyfriend of his other daughter, both played by Sean Young, which would have exposed the plot.Matt Dillon plots to have it all and has to do some things that just stretch us beyond belief to get there. He just seems to be in the right place at the right time just once or twice too often for my tastes.I fell in love with Sean Young when she did No Way Out back in 1987. I haven't seen much of her lately and understand that she has not been doing so well. I thought she was good in this role and think that she has been unfairly criticized.Still, I believe film noir is best watched in films of the fifties and remakes just don't do it for me.
The large part of the fun of watching A Kiss Before Dying is looking out for the number of Hitchcock movie moments the film is paying tribute to: from Psycho's shower shots and the lonesome mother's house our Norman Bates has escaped from, to the bleaching of the heroine and taking the Kim Novak role a la Vertigo with possibly lethal consequences. I was hugely amused and never mind the creaking plot. On a technical level, I loved the Technicolor hue of the film, very Hitchcock period too. I'm not sure why the lead actress, Sean Young, got a double Razzie award for her dual role. It seems undeserved. I'm sure there must have been far worse performances in 1991 to choose from.