A Kiss Before Dying
1991, R, 94 min.
Directed by James Dearden, Narrated by , Voices by , Starring Matt Dillon, Sean Young, Max Von Sydow, James Russo, Martha Gehman, Adam Horovitz.

The good things of American life — money, status, success — are only a marriage or murder away for the anti-hero in A Kiss Before Dying. Beyond that, however, that’s all this film superficially contemplates; any moral ambiguities that it might have pondered about getting ahead in a capitalistic system are lost in a badly constructed plot. Director-screenwriter Dearden, who wrote the script for Fatal Attraction, does a terrible job of making the pieces of the who’s-he-going-to-kill-next narrative stick; jumping around with an unnerving frequency, this film self-destructs before your very eyes.

*½   

This article appears in May 10 • 1991 (Cover).

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Steve Davis has written film reviews for The Austin Chronicle off and on since the early years of its publication. He holds a B.S. degree in Radio-Television-Film from the University of Texas, and a J.D. degree from the University of Texas School of Law.