French Kiss

This is likely my favorite film. I love Kevin Klein as a Frenchman! (Knowing that he is not just makes his part more funny.) This was one of Meg's last great films. I just love this story! The situation that the characters are thrust into, putting them in a working relationship to accomplish common personal ends, lends to their falling in love and is very comical as well. There are some very heart-tugging moments to which I can relate, as I have married a European man, myself (when she visits his home, for instance). The Euro-American(-Canadian?) relationship is portrayed very well. They find their dream, at the last.

It is going to take way too much for them to make me decrown Meg Ryan from being the romcom queen, they did try hard. French Kiss Lawrence Kasdan, the director's attitude towards this love story isn't palpable to what it has to say. What gave it away, is the fact that he never sculpts it as a love story. There is your first loss. And like a domino game, all the other pieces fall apart like a joke. And why wouldn't they. It is a Meg Ryan movie. What were you expecting! Her version of Star Wars would be goofing around Death Star. And you'd like it. No one plays an underdog like her. She carries that same arc of finding her voice, accepting her fate and waking up from the la la land dream in every film. And you're up for it. Watching her go through this revelation with Tom Hanks or Billy Crystal or Tom Hanks, and is still a joy. Now that I feel like I should get off from the "I Love Meg Ryan" podium, I should start stabbing at this dull film that is enlightened only by Meg Ryan's performance- last one, I promise. This odd film surprisingly gives a sweet "date night movie" feeling, considering the bigger picture. But if we dive in deep, it makes very little sense. And I am not even looking at the flaws. In fact I would consider its one dimensional world and its dogmatic approach to its characters a big win. It feels good to meet a simple defined-in-one-line world. What's disenchanting is the transaction of the plot tracks and more importantly the genre. It claims to be one thing and then precariously jumps on other tone. And it is disillusioned in a sense that it never fools you- I know that, that is the definition. But you are always aware of the outer world, your reality, you are watching a film, French Kiss, which is clearly not worth Meg Ryan's (somehow it is always her full name) time or yours.