I rewatched this film on DVD and am stunned as to WHAT HAPPENED?
I was lucky enough to have seen the director's cut of this film in an editing room during August of 2002. Not that it was ever a great film, but it was certainly watchable, with some fun moments. Eliza Dushku, especially, was charming and funny. Really...she stole the film.
But now the fun is gone, lost to these insipid Billy Zane scenes (which had barely existed) and these voice-overs from the book that make me want to gag. Everything is so melodramatic.
I know the star is the producer's wife, but even she was so much better in the original cut. This cut really does make it seem like a vanity project, a reel for Surel.
Why hire the director of The Pretty Girl for such a task?
Having heard the film was recut from scratch, and seeing the final results, I can only wonder: WHY? Did the producers want to make it unwatchable? If that was their goal, they succeeded.
And if they wanted to give us the sappiest collection of mis-matched tunes ever, ditto.
I so remember the Getup Kids song "Mass Pike" playing during the road trip (when Dushku and Surel are driving in the red Mustang)...how cool was that? So cool that the producer pulled it and every lick of the director's music.
And the opening...this brilliant montage of Paris with a Django-type tune in the background...also gone.
What's left...a lot of Zane and Surel...overacting.
There should be a law here like in France where the director controls the film! The Kiss could be exhibit #1.
I was lucky enough to have seen the director's cut of this film in an editing room during August of 2002. Not that it was ever a great film, but it was certainly watchable, with some fun moments. Eliza Dushku, especially, was charming and funny. Really...she stole the film.
But now the fun is gone, lost to these insipid Billy Zane scenes (which had barely existed) and these voice-overs from the book that make me want to gag. Everything is so melodramatic.
I know the star is the producer's wife, but even she was so much better in the original cut. This cut really does make it seem like a vanity project, a reel for Surel.
Why hire the director of The Pretty Girl for such a task?
Having heard the film was recut from scratch, and seeing the final results, I can only wonder: WHY? Did the producers want to make it unwatchable? If that was their goal, they succeeded.
And if they wanted to give us the sappiest collection of mis-matched tunes ever, ditto.
I so remember the Getup Kids song "Mass Pike" playing during the road trip (when Dushku and Surel are driving in the red Mustang)...how cool was that? So cool that the producer pulled it and every lick of the director's music.
And the opening...this brilliant montage of Paris with a Django-type tune in the background...also gone.
What's left...a lot of Zane and Surel...overacting.
There should be a law here like in France where the director controls the film! The Kiss could be exhibit #1.