--- title: "French Kiss" year: 1995 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/french-kiss" fi1m_id: "french-kiss" imdb_id: "tt0113117" tmdb_id: 397 wikidata_id: "Q1455280" fi1m_score: 55 critics_score: 43 critics_reviews: 6 published: "2026-10-05T00:06:57.682036+00:00" updated: "2026-10-05T00:06:58.214033+00:00" region: "VN" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # French Kiss (1995) Directed by Lawrence Kasdan · 1h 51m · Comedy, Romance, Drama ## Identity French Kiss - **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/french-kiss - **Type:** Film - **Fi1m ID:** french-kiss - **IMDb ID:** tt0113117 - **TMDB ID:** 397 - **Wikidata ID:** Q1455280 - **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113117/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/397, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1455280 **Fi1m score: 55** · Critics 43 from 6 reviews *In a sentence:* Kevin Kline’s French accent is the best-written character in the film > Kevin Kline, stubbled and shameless, carries a romantic comedy that Lawrence Kasdan directs as if from a deckchair. The scenery is lovely and the jokes about the French land more often than they should; the romance arrives on schedule and nobody seems to mind. ## Synopsis Kate (Meg Ryan) lives in Toronto, has her life planned down to the furniture, and will not get on an aeroplane. Her fiancé Charlie (Timothy Hutton) flies to Paris for a conference and rings to say he has met a Frenchwoman, Juliette (Suzan Anbeh), and is not coming home. Kate boards the next flight. In the seat beside her is Luc Teyssier (Kevin Kline), an unshaven, talkative Frenchman who slips a stolen diamond necklace and a vine cutting into her bag to get them past customs. In Paris her bag is lifted by a thief called Bob (François Cluzet), Luc attaches himself to her to recover his necklace, and Inspector Jean-Paul Cardon (Jean Reno) follows the pair of them. Kate wants Charlie back. Luc wants the necklace. Both of them are heading south. ## Review Lawrence Kasdan wrote and directed [*Body Heat*](https://film.one/film/body-heat) and [*The Big Chill*](https://film.one/film/the-big-chill), films in which grown adults said sharp things to one another, and in *French Kiss* he directs a script by Adam Brooks about a woman who is frightened of aeroplanes and a man who smuggles vines. It is a holiday film in both senses. It takes its heroine from Toronto to Paris to the south of France, and it gives the impression that its director went along for the scenery and let the plot look after itself. There is pleasure in it, nearly all of it supplied by Kevin Kline, and there is not a great deal else. Kline plays Luc Teyssier as a man who has never once been embarrassed. He slouches, he lies in a low grumble, he wears Joanna Johnston’s black leather jacket as if he slept in it, and he pronounces each English word as though it has personally offended him. The accent could have been a party turn. Kline makes it a person, a thief who is more honest about what he wants than anyone else on screen. We laughed, out loud and more than once, during the flight itself, Kline talking Kate through take-off with a running lecture that is half comfort and half seduction, and we spent the rest of the film waiting for him to be given a scene that good again. Meg Ryan, who also produced, plays Kate as the Meg Ryan character with the dial turned up: the crumpled face, the hands in the air, the small indignant shriek. She is skilled at being flustered and the film asks for little else. Brooks’s idea, that a woman who has arranged her whole future must learn to be surprised by it, is a sound one, and Ryan plays the arranging well. The change of heart is harder to credit, because the script writes the result and skips the steps. Somewhere around the second train we realised we had stopped minding whether she got Charlie back, and we are not sure the film noticed either. It does look well. Owen Roizman shoots Paris in grey, all wet pavements and pale stone, so that when the film reaches the south the light turns gold and the frame seems to relax with it. Jon Hutman gives the farmhouse where Luc stops off a kitchen table, dust and worn stone, and it is the one place in the film that feels lived in rather than visited. James Newton Howard keeps the score light and the soundtrack leans on the French standards you would expect, which suits a film that is itself a postcard. None of this is ambitious. All of it is pleasant to sit in front of. The trouble is the middle. Joe Hutshing has 111 minutes to fill and the hour between Paris and the coast is spent on trains, in hotel corridors and on roads, with the same two arguments going round. Timothy Hutton’s Charlie has a conference and a face and nothing else; Suzan Anbeh is asked to stand in doorways and be lovely, and does. Jean Reno turns up as the policeman, wears a good coat, and is given little to do beyond looking tolerant. François Cluzet gets one decent scene with a stolen bag and then vanishes into the plot. Kasdan at his best wrote people who were cleverer than their situations. Here nobody is. The film’s jokes about the French, the rudeness, the cheese, the shrug, are old ones told briskly, and we laughed at a few of them and then felt a little tired of ourselves. Most critics have been harder on the film than we are, and we understand why: it is thin, it is predictable, and it knows it. We are inclined to forgive it a little more than they did because Kline is on screen for most of it. Watch it at home on a wet evening with someone who finds Kline funny, which is the audience it was made for. The 15 certificate is for language and not much else. If you want Kasdan, go back to *The Big Chill*; if you want Kline doing an accent for the sheer joy of it, this will do nicely. *Fi1m score 55, published 5 October 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics find French Kiss a thin, uneven romantic comedy, and the praise clusters almost entirely around one man. Five of the six reviews single out Kevin Kline’s turn as the French jewel thief, and even the harshest of them credit him with the film’s best moments. Beyond Kline, the goodwill is faint: an amiable fluffiness, some laughs at the expense of the French, a charm that survives the script rather than coming from it. The reservations gather around the writing. Several reviews call the romance predictable and sentimental, and Variety traces the trouble to structure, with a promising opening giving way to an aimless middle and a foregone ending. Empire adds Meg Ryan’s familiar mannerisms to the charge sheet, and Time Out dismisses the continental charm as phoney. The spread is narrow and low: nothing above lukewarm, with Radio Times the kindest, finding it a comedown from Kasdan’s better work but still pleasant company. ## Straight answers **Is French Kiss worth watching?** *French Kiss* is worth watching for anyone who finds Kevin Kline funny, and we scored it 55. He plays an unshaven, shameless French thief with an accent that becomes a proper character, and he is on screen for most of the film. The middle hour sags on trains and in hotel corridors, and Meg Ryan's change of heart arrives without the steps that would earn it. **How long is French Kiss, and what is it rated?** *French Kiss* runs 1h 51m. It is a comedy and romance film. **Where can I watch French Kiss in Vietnam?** *French Kiss* is not on any streaming or rental service in Vietnam at the moment. It is available in 14 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily. **How violent or frightening is French Kiss, and is it suitable for children?** *French Kiss* is not violent or frightening; its UK 15 certificate is for language and little else. It is a light romantic comedy about a stolen necklace, a vine cutting and a woman chasing her fiancé across France, with nothing in it to alarm the squeamish. Younger children would most likely be bored rather than upset, and the jokes about the French are aimed at adults. **How does French Kiss compare to It Happened One Night?** [*It Happened One Night*](https://film.one/film/it-happened-one-night) is the better film, and *French Kiss* keeps borrowing from it: the mismatched pair, the road south, the bickering that turns into something else. Capra's version has wit and real tension between Gable and Colbert, while Kasdan's drifts pleasantly and lets Kline carry it. Choose the older film for the writing; choose this one for an easy evening with Kline's accent. **What should I watch after French Kiss?** After *French Kiss*, try [*It Happened One Night*](https://film.one/film/it-happened-one-night) (1934, Fi1m 88): The road-trip romance this one keeps borrowing from, done with wit and real tension. Then [*Roman Holiday*](https://film.one/film/roman-holiday) (1953, Fi1m 88): A stranger shows a visitor a European city and both learn something; the original; and [*A Fish Called Wanda*](https://film.one/film/a-fish-called-wanda) (1988, Fi1m 83): Kline, a stolen jewel haul and a far sharper script; the Englishman is the joke here. ### Reviews we read (6) - **The New York Times**, Janet Maslin (65/100, inferred): The headline presents Kevin Kline’s performance as playful, but the accessible page does not reveal the review’s overall verdict. It singles out his French jewel-thief role; no further praise or criticism is available. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1995/05/05/movies/film-review-kevin-kline-romps-as-a-french-jewel-thief.html) - **Radio Times**, John Ferguson (3/5): Ferguson finds the film disappointing beside Kasdan’s stronger work, but still an amiably fluffy comedy. He singles out Kevin Kline’s performance as the Gallic rogue for praise. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-32dyl7/french-kiss/) - **Empire**, Bob McCabe (40/100, inferred): McCabe finds the film uneven and short of quality, though it retains some charm. He particularly praises Kevin Kline’s performance, while faulting the film’s perfunctory style and Ryan’s familiar mannerisms. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/french-kiss-review/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Peter Rainer (35/100, inferred): Rainer finds the romance predictable and overly sentimental, though the film still gets laughs from its jokes about the French. He singles out Kevin Kline’s comic performance as the film’s chief pleasure. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-05-05-ca-62538-story.html) - **Time Out**, TCh (30/100, inferred): The critic dismisses the film as a thin affair. They single out its supposedly phoney continental charm as a weakness. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/french-kiss) - **Variety**, Brian Lowry (30/100, inferred): Lowry finds the romantic comedy uneven and thinly conceived, with a promising start giving way to an aimless journey and predictable finish. He singles out Kevin Kline’s performance as the source of many of the film’s best moments. [Read](https://variety.com/1995/film/reviews/french-kiss-2-1200441769/) ## Details - **Director:** Lawrence Kasdan - **Director:** Lawrence Kasdan - **Screenplay:** Adam Brooks - **Cinematography:** Owen Roizman - **Editor:** Joe Hutshing - **Music:** James Newton Howard - **Production design:** Jon Hutman - **Costume design:** Joanna Johnston - **Producer:** Meg Ryan, Eric Fellner, Tim Bevan - **Cast:** Meg Ryan as Kate; Kevin Kline as Luc Teyssier; Timothy Hutton as Charlie; Jean Reno as Inspector Jean-Paul Cardon; François Cluzet as Bob; Suzan Anbeh as Juliette; Renee Humphrey as Lilly; Michael Riley as M. Campbell - **Runtime:** 1h 51m - **First release (Romania):** 5 May 1995 - **Genres:** Comedy, Romance, Drama - **Box office:** $102 million ## Where to watch in Vietnam Not streaming, renting or buying in Vietnam at the last check. Also available in: AT, AU, BE, BR, CH, ES, FR, GB, IN, IT, JP, NL, NZ, PL. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *It Happened One Night* (1934), Fi1m 88: The road-trip romance this one keeps borrowing from, done with wit and real tension. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/it-happened-one-night.md) - *Roman Holiday* (1953), Fi1m 88: A stranger shows a visitor a European city and both learn something; the original. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/roman-holiday.md) - *Two for the Road* (1967): Hepburn and Finney drive through France while a marriage comes apart and back together. - *A Fish Called Wanda* (1988), Fi1m 83: Kline, a stolen jewel haul and a far sharper script; the Englishman is the joke here. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-fish-called-wanda.md) - *Before Sunrise* (1995), Fi1m 89: Two strangers off a train talk all night; the romance earns every step this film skips. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/before-sunrise.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/french-kiss