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Movies / On DVD / Kiss of Death
Kiss of Death

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Kiss of Death (1995)

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Reviews Counted:35

Fresh:23

Rotten:12

Average Rating:6.3/10

Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: KISS OF DEATH opens with ex-convict Jimmy Kilmartin (David Caruso) attempting to distance himself from his shady past. His cousin, Ronny (Michael Rapaport), shows up at his door begging for help... KISS OF DEATH opens with ex-convict Jimmy Kilmartin (David Caruso) attempting to distance himself from his shady past. His cousin, Ronny (Michael Rapaport), shows up at his door begging for help with one more heist, and Jimmy agrees to participate against his better judgment. Things go sour when a detective is shot, and Jimmy is left to take the fall. As Jimmy's hopes for a normal life with his wife (Helen Hunt) and daughter fade, he becomes a pawn of the police in their attempts to bring down a psychotic gangster named Little Junior (Nicolas Cage). Caruso and a pumped-up, supremely menacing Cage highlight a spectacular cast that also features Samuel L. Jackson as the cop who becomes Jimmy's solitary ally and Stanley Tucci as a Machiavellian district attorney. Novelist Richard Price supplies the screenplay, and director Barber Schroeder (SINGLE WHITE FEMALE) ensures that KISS OF DEATH, based loosely on the 1947 film of the same name, unfolds with the grooved precision of a well-made watch while bristling at every turn with the volatile life of a vividly imagined criminal underworld. [More]

Starring: David Caruso, Nicolas Cage, Samuel L. Jackson, Kathryn Erbe

Starring: David Caruso, Nicolas Cage, Samuel L. Jackson, Kathryn Erbe, Helen Hunt, Michael Rapaport, Ving Rhames, Stanley Tucci

Director: Barbet Schroeder

Director: Barbet Schroeder
Composer: Trevor Jones
Screenwriter: Richard Price
Producer: Barbet Schroeder, Susan Hoffman

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Jun 1, 2004

No Details Exist
 
 

Reviews for Kiss of Death

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1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z)
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The picture is watchable, but nothing about it will linger, except perhaps the feeling that, with a more polished script, it might have been significantly better.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
01/01/00
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Caruso's acting is vivid, but amazingly quiet and internal, and it's fascinating to watch the kaleidoscopically conflicted emotions battle beneath his controlled surface.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/01/00
Joe Brown
Joe Brown
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

If you savor movies about sleazy plea bargains and other lawyer hardballing, Death has its moments. Otherwise the latest from director Barbet Schroeder is only a movie of moments.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Mike Clark
Mike Clark
USA Today
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Atmospheric yet ultimately hollow exercise in tedium.

Full Review Source: TheMovieReport.com | comment Comment
01/13/04
Michael Dequina
Michael Dequina
TheMovieReport.com

It shouldn't be disjointed and uncompelling, but it is.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Price has a good sense of story structure, and this remake of the 1947 thriller is taut and engrossing.

Full Review Source: Movieline | comment Comment
01/28/02
Stephen Farber
Stephen Farber
Movieline

Now that Woody Allen has abdicated the throne, Price is the soul-of-New-York screenwriter.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

Every time Caruso has a scene with Jackson or Cage, he seems to be out of his depth.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
01/01/00
Chris Hicks
Chris Hicks
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

Cage dominates the camera, stealing scenes by the sheer intensity of his inimitable strangeness.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
01/01/00
Hal Hinson
Hal Hinson
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It ain't anything ground-breaking, but it gets the job done, and well.

Full Review Source: Montreal Film Journal | comment Comment
09/10/02
Kevin N. Laforest
Kevin N. Laforest
Montreal Film Journal

It's a sleek, muscular thriller played by a terrific ensemble cast...

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
05/20/03
Janet Maslin
Janet Maslin
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A crackling thriller that feels unusually attuned to its lowlife characters.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
09/19/08
Todd McCarthy
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's worth the price of admission just for a certain hilarious twist in Little Junior's strip joint

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

Caruso is unable to give Jimmy any humanity, delivering every line in the same hushed, primed-to-explode manner.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Scott Renshaw
Scott Renshaw
rec.arts.movies.reviews

The real problem with this film is a so-so screenplay: the dialogue is lame, and many scenes lack any real suspense.

Full Review Source: Laramie Movie Scope | comment Comment
03/23/03
Robert Roten
Robert Roten
Laramie Movie Scope

Schroeder's film is fun to watch, even when it's being predictable or brutal, but its memory is nearly gone the next day.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Marc Savlov
Marc Savlov
Austin Chronicle

What's most effective about the new Kiss of Death is Tucci's marvelously slimy prosecutor.

Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | comment Comment
09/19/08
Richard Schickel
Richard Schickel
TIME Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

If you've got three spare hours and a yen for good filmmaking, skip Kiss and rent the real thing, not the pale copy.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Examiner | comment Comment
01/01/00
Barbara Shulgasser
Barbara Shulgasser
San Francisco Examiner

A riveting crime drama.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
06/18/02
Peter Stack
Peter Stack
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Cage and Caruso strike sparks in this riveting piece of pulp fiction, but it's that first Kiss you'll remember.

Full Review Source: Rolling Stone | comment Comment
03/07/05
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by critic A-Z)
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Latest News for Kiss of Death

October 20, 2005: Trailer Bulletin: Freedomland
From director Joe Roth and screenwriter Richard Price comes "Freedomland," an apparently racially-charged kidnapping thriller that stars Samuel L. Jackson, Julianne... More...

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