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34 reviews in total

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34 out of 41 people found the following review useful:
Are you an optimist? Don't miss this film!, 9 December 2004

Author: lbrown-21 from United States

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. The plot is compelling and original. It is part love story, part mystery. Every time I watch it I feel transported to a place of mystery and faith. How many movies accomplish putting on the screen the power of love and the vital importance of who we are inside? Alec Baldwin is utterly convincing as he plays the part of the soul-mate who has lost is partner to the body of a dying old man. Meg Ryan radiant as a woman who never sleeps and who by the end of the movie has rediscovered hope. Watching this film should be considered medicine for the body and soul. Are you an optimist? Don't miss this film! Highly recommended.

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45 out of 68 people found the following review useful:
Lots of reviewers don't get this movie., 3 August 2004

Author: contrarywise from Montana, U. S. A.

If you watch this movie expecting a romantic comedy like You've Got Mail--which I thought was garbage, by the way, but then conventional love stories make me go "yeah, right,"--or compare it to other apparently similar movies where people switch bodies, you are going to be disappointed--unless you can open your mind and see that this is not a comedy at all, though written with light touch. The key to the movie is in the advice the heroine's mom gives the hero when he talks to her on the phone. The movie is about the nature of love, and whether it means more than just being attached to an attractive exterior. The "magical" aspect is just a way of confronting this question in a new and powerful way. Also, notice that almost the first conversation the two lovers have is about a book, The White Hotel, which is a depiction of life where the word tragic is maybe an understatement. Like many movies made from plays, the writing is crisp and to the point. Meg Ryan is fine, but Alec Baldwin is riveting when his world falls apart. He is a walking picture of grief, unable even to be civil to the bartender who is a friend. There is a great soundtrack, from the Cowboy Junkies and Lou Reed to Annie Lennox. There is one sublime moment, when the hero rises above all convention and expresses his love, leaving behind all rational, normal ideas of what is okay to do. Well, needless to say I love this movie. But hey, it is not everybody's cup of tea. Especially if you are too dumb and superficial to "get" it.

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21 out of 23 people found the following review useful:
Sweet little movie, 9 January 2001
Author: wherever from Phoenix, AZ

I dismissed this movie as yet another romantic comedy when it came out in '92 and never gave it much thought until catching it recently on cable. It was quite surprisingly a very enjoyable film, for me mostly because of the chemistry between Meg Ryan and Alec Baldwin; I thought they captured the blissful uncertainty of falling in love and thought the subtext was an interesting commentary on love and marriage and what we see in others. It's no great work of art, but it is moving and sweet. I really enjoyed watching the two leading stars. Of course they're beautiful and all that, but they managed to seem human and flawed at the same time (as did the parents) and I didn't feel this movie was overly sappy at all. They seemed to talk to each other the way people do, and less like your typical Hollywood snappy dialogue. There were some interesting and touching moments, such as the contrast between what the old man thought a married couple should act and how Alec Baldwin thought they should, as he looked longingly at the couple kissing in the pool while his new wife (possessed by the old man) chatted away with an older couple.

Oscar winner Kathy Bates was totally wasted here though. I wonder if her part had been bigger and then got cut later.

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17 out of 20 people found the following review useful:
Wonderful Experience!, 17 November 2005

Author: Doriano from Atlanta, GA (USA)

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Prelude to a Kiss is a wonderful experience. Alec Baldwin and Meg Ryan are perfect together. I especially enjoyed his narration at the beginning of the movie as he describes his first encounter with Meg's character. It's all about soulmates and how they connect and they just know it was meant to be. Then there is the powerful moment after Meg Ryan and an elderly man somehow swap bodies and Baldwin looks at his wife and asks "where is my wife?!" because he just knows that she is not the same person he fell in love with, even though it was her body and she looked like his wife, there was something wrong...something off....when it came to her spirit and the way she thought and acted. Incredibly original stuff... to show how deep love is actually. That we could tell whether or not someone is our soulmate even if they changed physical form. It also showed how we love and embrace all those annoying little things about our lovers that we complain about and don't agree with. I thought it was extremely cute how he missed all of his wife's neurotic and strange idiosyncrasies. All of her foibles were as important to him as all of her best traits.

This is a very underrated movie and a must see for anyone who is a romantic.

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11 out of 14 people found the following review useful:
Modern day fairy tale, 23 March 2004
Author: kodax@chollian.net

The DVD just became available near me so picked up the movie on an impulse. I remember seeing it on cable some time ago and being very touched by the story and the great performance of Baldwin. Having seen it again, its one of my favorite movies..and probably the best romance in my DVD collection.

Its a modern day fairy tale with a moral and timeless wisdom. It ponders the nature of true love....and then gives an answer. It asks the more contemporary question.."what do you do when the person you love becomes sick, repulsive and dying?"

Of course, this is an allegory for aids but the concept of loss is universal and Baldwin gives a great performance in conveying feelings of loss and helplessness.

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8 out of 12 people found the following review useful:
Not perfect but delightful, 21 February 2002
Author: mfisher452 from Oklahoma

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

A movie about identity and the essence of individuality. This is obviously a fantasy, but the supernatural elements are handled in such an understated way that it is almost believable.

The best thing about this movie is Meg Ryan's face. She has never been so adorably daffy, and several scenes where she mugs outrageously are hilarious. Alec Baldwin does his best to act the role of a really nice guy caught in an impossible situation, but he fails to be totally convincing: Just under the surface is his true rowdy dude persona fighting to get out.

Peter (Baldwin) and Rita (Ryan) are young Chicagoans who meet and immediately fall in love. On their wedding day, their paths cross with that of Julius, a weary, ill, lonely old man. Rita and Julius momentarily envy each other's life for reasons that are surprisingly similar, and magically, their souls switch places. On the honeymoon, Peter begins to suspect that Rita is not the woman he thought he knew. He figures out what happened and this brings together Peter and Rita, now in Julius's body. The film moves toward its climax with all three principals being sorely tested trying to deal with their predicament without being taken for lunatics by their friends and family. Resolution, when it comes, is deeply moving. Inevitably, the film has a happy ending. Younger viewers will be satisfied with the ending, with everyone back in their own bodies. Older viewers will feel left hanging. Wasn't Rita more affected by her experience inside Julius's skin? Wouldn't she want to keep up a relationship with this person with whom she has shared more than anyone ever has in the history of the human race? How will she feel when he dies? Wouldn't a piece of her go with him? Furthermore, it begs credulity to assume that old Julius could figure out so fast how to dress, put on makeup and do his/her hair like Rita. And how does Rita know exactly how to dress as Julius? How does Julius (as Rita) even know which toothbrush is hers on their honeymoon? However, these are minor flaws in a film concerned with bigger questions, and most viewers will feel more or less satisfied at the end of the film.

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6 out of 9 people found the following review useful:
Baldwin's best performance, 27 July 2001

Author: jmp310 from Miami, Fl

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Prelude to a Kiss ***.5/****

Norman Rene did a very smart thing in his first feature as director. He took a known and successful play with an original story, cast two well known Hollywood romance specialists to play the leads and let them determine how good the movie is. Alec Baldwin and Meg Ryan, the two leads, deliver quite well, making Prelude to a Kiss one of the more original, thoughtful, geniuately sweet, and overall first-rate romances in recent years. The movie begins with the common cliche: total opposites attract. Peter(Baldwin) is a nerdy, somewhat conservative manager of a science information firm. His friend and co-worker(Stanley Tucci) introduces him to free-willed liberal bartender Rita(Ryan). Although the actions of Peter that first night don't exactly show it, Peter has fallen in love with Rita. The next night Peter visits Rita at her bar and after an intital akward period, the two hit it off. For a period of time, they are a couple in love and then about a half an hour into the movie, Peter poses a marriage proposal which Rita accepts. SPOILER ALERT- If you don't want to know the twist that changes the direction of the movie, stop here.

Peter and Rita are married. Meanwhile we see a mysterious old man(Sydney Walker, in his film debut) wandering around and ending up at the wedding. He congradulates the bride and groom who acts civily towards them although they have no idea whats going on. The old man asks if he can kiss the bride, Rita accepts and suddenly we see a supernatural occurrence which we soon find out involves the soul switching of Rita and the old man. Eventually, Peter figures it out, and comes to the definate conclusion that Rita, the woman he loves is in the old man's body and vice versa. In quite possibly Baldwin's best movie scene ever(riviling with the memorable "I own your asses" lecture in Glengarry Glen Ross), he confeses to Rita's body and soon things become a mess. Peter realises he has to find the old man's body, with Rita's spul inside. I've probably given away too much at this point so I will not dare tell you the ending, although it no doubtly it will recieve mix emotions. Personally, I found the story intriguing and thoughtful, sometimes even forgetting that it was a total fantasy. The acting for the most part is wonderful. Meg Ryan's performance is as good as City of Angels, which parts of this seemed similar to. She is able to develop great chemistry throughout. Walker's debut performance is masterable. Although they are brief roles, Patty Duke and Ned Beatty perfectly fit the role of Rita's parents. One criticism I have of the film is casting talented actors like Stanley Tucci and Kathy Bates in completely nothing roles. However, like I said earlier, the key to the movie is Baldwin. In movies like "Glengarry Glen Ross", "Malice", and even the recent "Pearl Harbor", he has been able to portray the cool, calm, man in control. However, this by far is his best performance because it's the only one that has ever let him do great things without talking. His facial expressions are as telling as prime Pacino or DeNiro. When he is overjoyed or deeply saddened, it's so genuine that the viewer feels it. Although Baldwin wasn't in the same league as 92's Oscar Winner Pacino(Scent of a woman, one of the great films of cinema) he neverless should have at least merrited a nomination and in a weaker year he probably would have. Prelude to a Kiss is not a masterpiece and does not try and go overboard in making a statement on society. It recognizes it's job, to make the viewer laugh, cry, and smile, and does it better than most movies in this genre would.

Rated PG-13 for a few crude sexual remarks; however, I think Prelude could have gotten by with a PG, this is an appropriate film for kids who are interested....1 hr 50 min a 20th Century Fox release

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7 out of 11 people found the following review useful:
A Surprise Find!, 10 December 1998

Author: Pam Giacomini (psgiac@aol.com) from Savannah, Georgia

I actually got this movie in the theatre years ago. I have since picked up a copy of the video for my own collection. It is surprisingly engaging. I also think it is the best performance Alec Baldwin has ever given. You will care about these characters, and care about their happiness.

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8 out of 13 people found the following review useful:
I wish people would stop knocking this film!, 29 March 1999
Author: LEE-47 from somerset, england

This film was not as bad as some of the downright cynical reviewers said it was, but, well...but nothing! It was good, I enjoyed it, and found it thoroughly engrossing and intriguing,and it was also,well,enchanting I suppose,I didn't really get the story line,but after I read the summary of the plot, it all made sense. plum.

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9 out of 15 people found the following review useful:
I saw it again 10 years later, 23 June 2002
Author: DJAkin (donjakin@yahoo.com) from AZ

It was so good. I agree that this is one of Alec's best performances. The fact the he grabbed down and kissed that old man is testimony to his acting ability. This is a movie about an old man and Meg Ryan, who kiss, then exchange souls. There is an element of comedy in this as well as wonder and mystery and a tad of suspense. I usually can't stand Meg "smiles" Ryan, but she is tolorable in THIS movie only. The highlight of this movie is certainly Alec Baldwin, who ALWAYS delivers the goods!!

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