French Kiss

""Why weren't you the one, Charlie? The one who turned on the big shiny Kate-light that shines so bright?""

- Meg Ryan

Kate (Meg Ryan) and Charlie (Timothy Hutton) have a perfect life planned out before them: buying a house, marriage, kids, the whole works. Kate's fear of flying keeps her in Canada while Charlie goes to Paris for a medical convention. While there Charlie is smitten by the lovely Juliette (Suzan Anbeh). He calls off the wedding with Kate and she nervously boards a plane to get him back. She ends up sitting next to the petty French thief Luc Teyssier (Kevin Kline). He hides a stolen necklace and smuggled grape vine in her bag to get it through customs. Her bag is stolen, the necklace apparently lost, and Kate and Luc head to Cannes -- Luc to find the necklace and Kate to get Charlie back. Along the way, Kate and Luc begin having feelings for each other -- which change the course of their lives.


 * Babies Ever After : Last scene has the now-couple romping in the vineyard with their young son.
 * Culture Clash: North America versus France.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: Luc's description of the joys of riding a plane are transparently similar to those of sex.
 * Eiffel Tower Effect: Averted until halfway through the movie: Kate repeatedly fails to get a view of the tower while in Paris, missing it by mere seconds at one point, until she finally glimpses it from the train as she leaves the city.
 * Will They or Won't They?