From: frankm@microsoft.com (Frank R.A.J. Maloney)
Subject: REVIEW: PRELUDE TO A KISS
Reply-To: frankm@microsoft.com (Frank R.A.J. Maloney)
Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 16:39:32 GMT
Followup-To: rec.arts.movies
Summary: r.a.m.r. #01452
Keywords: author=Maloney

			     PRELUDE TO A KISS
		       A film review by Frank Maloney
			Copyright 1992 Frank Maloney

     PRELUDE TO A KISS is a film directed by Norman Rene, from a
screenplay by Craig Lucas.  It stars Alec Baldwin, Meg Ryan, Sydney
Walker, with Kathy Bates, Patty Duke, and Ned Beatty.  Rated PG-13, due
to language.

     PRELUDE TO A KISS suffers from coming so late in the nearly
exhausted cycle of body-switching comedies that infested the movie
screens in the 80s, the best being probably BIG, the most profitable
GHOST, the most ill-timed PEGGY SUE GOT MARRIED, the most sleazy one
that escapes my mind just now but was a remake of a 60s sleazoid comedy
about a sleazeball who comes back as a woman [SWITCH -Mod.].  By now,
most of us have had about all we want of this particular subgenre for
the next few years.  This is unfortunate because PRELUDE is a sweet,
likable film with some winning performances.  The story is also a
little thin and would have benefited from some interesting subplot,
such as one exploiting the charming performance by the man who plays
Peter's (Alec Baldwin) best friend.  I think Peter's friend is gay, not
because he kisses Peter just before the wedding but because of
something in the dialog about the friend never getting married.

     In fact one of the most interesting and successful aspects of
PRELUDE is the skillful and sensitive way it handles the homosexual
tensions inherent in the situation, to wit an old man's soul in a young
woman's body and vice versa.  It's true that the script descends into
smirking humor once or twice, principally when Sydney Walker in his own
body and "in Meg Ryan's," as it were, goes out of his way to say that
Baldwin wasn't to his taste as a lover.  On the other, and more
convincing hand, we are presented with some intimate moments and one
very tender kiss between Walker and Baldwin.  By comparison look at the
tricky way GHOST avoided showing us Whoopi Goldberg being kissed by a
woman (again).

     This is the pleasantest role I've seen Baldwin in.  He is quirky,
sexy, sensitive, passionately devoted to getting at the truth about his
wife's change in character and to righting a great wrong.  He expresses
tender emotions lightly and convincingly and his finely tuned
performance anchors the movie.

     Meg Ryan is a good choice for the bohemian, darkly figured Rita,
who is so afraid of life that she can barely restrain her love of death.
Ryan is appealing and quite comfortable with what is effectively a dual
role.

     The showiest performance, and the one that may be remembered at
Oscar time, is Walker's.  The bitter, dying, absent old man who
rediscovers the preciousness of life, even a dying life.  He has a
couple of powerful speeches that are the moral center of this film.

     The film is adapted from a stage play, which is probably why it is
talkier than most movies, given to speeches more than dialog.  No
throw-away lines here; every word is to a purpose.  Otherwise, the
transition from stage to screen is mostly seamless and more successful
than most such adaptations.

     Mention also ought to be made of the fine, but brief supporting
roles from Kathy Bates as Walker's daughter, from Ned Beatty and Patty
Duke as Ryan's parents.

     The moments of all-out magic may be not as magical on the screen as
on the stage, but the rest of this story is handled mostly convincingly
thanks to the excellence of the actors and some sensitive direction from
Norman Rene, the director of the 1989 AIDS drama, LONG TIME COMPANION.

     I recommend PRELUDE to anyone with a taste for the romantic, the
life-affirming, for the witty and erotic.  This is a charmer and I very
much enjoyed it even at full ticket price.

-- 
Frank Richard Aloysius Jude Maloney
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews