Tue 23 Apr 2019
A Movie Review by Dan Stumpf: JUDAS KISS (1999).
Posted by Steve under Crime Films , Reviews[9] Comments
JUDAS KISS Bandeira Entertainment, 1998. Carla Gugino, Simon Baker-Denny, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Gil Bellows, Til Schweiger, Hal Holbrook, Roscoe Lee Browne. Director: Sebastian Gutierrez.
Any movie that starts with a blue-skinned alien lesbian getting naked is probably worth a look, and when Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman come on as sho ’nuff Looziana cops, replete with corn pone accents and Wal-Mart wardrobes, you know Judas Kiss is headed into undiscovered territory. But that’s only the beginning, folks, only the beginning…
This movie offers more genuine flakiness than you’d find in a whole case of Post Toasties, and there’s a surprise inside: a twisty-turny kidnapping plot that develops layer on layer of deception and double-dealing, all very intelligently presented.
I mentioned Rickman and Thompsoon, and they’re both quite good in off-beat parts, along with Roscoe Lee Browne, and Hal Holbrook as a bereaved and betrayed congressmen, but the real acting honors here go to four unknowns playing a quartet of trailer-trash crooks trying to break out of the small-tie with a high-profile kidnapping.
And honestly, the names of these actors would mean nothing to you, but the parts are written and performed so skillfully I kept wanting to get back to them, even when the camera was on actors I liked better. Okay, the thespians in question are Carla Gugino, Simon Baker, Gil Bellows and Til Schweiger, and I hope mention in these pages rockets all four of them to stardom.
Chalk it up to adroit writing and directing by Sebastian Gutierrez, another talent who needs to be much better known.
April 23rd, 2019 at 7:37 am
I don’t know Til Schweiger, but the other three have all had success, more or less, especially Carla Gugino and Simon Baker (though I never watched either of his series). Bellows started as a wimpy character on ALLY McBEAL but has gojne darker in recent roles.
April 23rd, 2019 at 9:21 am
Simon Baker played the lead in the U.S. series “The Mentalist”, a favorite of mine until the show went down the plot rabbit hole of the Red serial killer.
April 23rd, 2019 at 11:07 am
Jeff and Rick
Thanks for the update on the actors. I thought I recognized Simon Baker’s name, but I didn’t know from where. I wish the film itself had done as well. As far as I’ve been able to tell, it never made it into the DVD era. The best I’ve been able to do are copies on old VHS tapes, which probably don’t have subtitles. From that video clip I found, I think I might need them!
April 23rd, 2019 at 6:13 pm
I’ve just watched this online. I enjoyed it. It’s very much a post Tarantino movie. But what it reminded me most of was “Body Heatâ€. About halfway through the movie the Alan Rickman character gives you the solution, so the suspense shifts to a different aspect of the movie. I would say an interesting movie, rather than a great one.
April 23rd, 2019 at 6:26 pm
Simon Baker, Gil Bellows, Til Schweiger are all leading man types who’ve appeared in some pleasant shows. These films are of the type Andrew Sarris once called “civilized light entertainments”. They are not flaky or noir or gritty. I like movies like this.
My favorite Mentalist episodes with Simon Baker are “Bleeding heart” and “Aingavite Baa”, both from the second season. Nice mystery plots.
Gil Bellows was just fine in “Silver Strand”, one of those train-the-navy-officer films.
Til Schweiger is a German star who never made it big in the English language market. He made a not bad attempt with the boxing pic “Joe and Max”. Among his more entertaining German films are “Maybe, Maybe Not” and “What To Do In Case of Fire”.
None of this is classic cinema. But it all goes down well with a big bowl of popcorn.
April 23rd, 2019 at 8:37 pm
Off beat casting considering neither Rickman, Thompson, or Baker are American actors despite their roles, but it works, and the film is a real joy, not a masterpiece, but much more enjoyable than you might expect going in.
April 23rd, 2019 at 9:00 pm
Simon Baker has covered much of the crime genre characters – detective in THE MENTALIST, criminal in SMITH (Ray Liotta was star) and a lawyer in THE GUARDIAN.
Something to remind us of THE GUARDIAN
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7G5yvyXMLQ
April 24th, 2019 at 5:33 am
Steve, I wonder if it was the mention in DAPA-EM all those years ago that rocketed the actors to stardom?
April 24th, 2019 at 11:39 am
All I can say, Dan, is that it certainly didn’t hurt.