French Kiss (1995)

A woman flies to France to confront her straying fiancé, but gets into trouble when the charming crook seated next to her uses her for smuggling.

Director:

Lawrence Kasdan

Writer:

Adam Brooks

Stars:

Meg Ryan, Kevin Kline, Timothy Hutton

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Meg Ryan	...	Kate
Kevin Kline	...	Luc Teyssier
Timothy Hutton	...	Charlie
Jean Reno	...	Inspector Jean-Paul Cardon
François Cluzet	...	Bob
Suzan Anbeh	...	Juliette (as Susan Anbeh)
Renée Humphrey	...	Lilly
Michael Riley	...	M. Campbell
Laurent Spielvogel	...	Concierge
Victor Garrivier	...	Octave
Élisabeth Commelin	...	Claire (as Elizabeth Commelin)
Julie Leibowitch	...	Olivia
Miquel Brown	...	Sgt. Patton
Louise Deschamps	...	Jean-Paul's Girl
Olivier Curdy	...	Jean-Paul's Boy

Storyline

Kate and Charlie have a perfect life planned out before them: buying a house, marriage, kids, the whole works. Kate's fear of flying keeps her in Canada while Charlie goes to Paris for a medical convention. While there Charlie is smitten by the lovely Juliette. He calls off the wedding with Kate and she nervously boards a plane to get him back. She ends up sitting next to the petty French thief Luc Teyssier. He hides a stolen necklace and smuggled grape vine in her bag to get it through customs. Her bag is stolen, the necklace apparently lost, and Kate and Luc head to Cannes -- Luc to find the necklace and Kate get Charlie back. Along the way, Kate and Luc begin having feelings for each other -- which change the course of their lives.

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Plot Keywords:

breakup | plant cutting | frenchman | blonde | infidelity | 

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Taglines:

Kate's stuck in a place where anything can happen with a guy who'll make sure that it does

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexuality, language and drug references

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

5 May 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Paris Match

Filming Locations:

Carlton Hotel, Cannes, France

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

£2,233,239 (United Kingdom), 17 November 1995

Gross USA:

$38,896,854

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$101,982,854

Company Credits

Production Co:

Polygram Filmed Entertainment,Prufrock Pictures,Twentieth Century Fox

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Dolby DTS SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Star Kevin Kline once commented that friend and regular collaborator Lawrence Kasdan took on yet another genre with this movie - the screwball romantic comedy. Kasdan had previously directed such movies in such various genres as the suspense-thriller in Body Heat (1981), the ensemble comedy-drama The Big Chill (1983), the melodrama The Accidental Tourist (1988), the black comedy I Love You to Death (1990), and the westerns Silverado (1985) and Wyatt Earp (1994). Kasdan though had previously written the romantic comedy Continental Divide (1981) but was not that movie's director.

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Goofs

Trains from Paris to Cannes do not go past the Eiffel Tower.

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Quotes

[after meeting Kate]
Claire: I'm very impressed.
Luc: She's a friend, just a friend.
Claire: Since when are women just your friends?
Luc: Since I met her.

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Crazy Credits

One of the crew members is credited as "Big Cheese."

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Connections

Featured in The Great Canadian Supercut (2017)

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Soundtracks

I Want You
(Love Theme from 'French Kiss')
Written by James Newton Howard
Recorded and mixed by Dennis Sands and Robert Schaper
Produced by James Newton Howard

User Reviews

Charming and often funny, very romantic tale

This was one of the best comedies of the 1990s - with While You Were Sleeping, There's Something about Mary, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Flirting with Disaster, perhaps When Harry Met Sally or Sleepless in Seattle.

It's a charming movie. I'm not particularly a Meg Ryan fan - (funny that I just named two of her movies in a top comedy list!). She's at her best here.

The movie is funny but has more heart than most comedies - the scenes with Luc's family are lovely and memorable - not at all overdone, just right. The movie's at its best when the principals are all together at Cannes - it becomes less humorous but very warmly romantic. The characters are so well written - there is even sympathy for Timothy Hutton's character. The chemistry between Ryan and Kline (which I wouldn't have believed before I saw it) is very much there. By the time Kevin Kline is singing La Mer over the last of the closing credits (after Louis Armstrong has sung La Vie en Rose), you'll want to see it again.

Kevin Kline is just magnificent - a quite real,interesting, amusing person is created. The Meg Ryan character's primness is irritating - but then one must see why Timothy Hutton found her so (comically, the movie's idea of primness is that she was deflowered at 18 not 13!).

You'll like it.