In KISS THE GIRLS, a North Carolina police detective Dr. Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman) tracks an elusive psychopath whose modus operandi is not necessarily killing the young women he abducts but "collecting" them as trophies. Unfortunately, his quarry includes the detective's own law-student niece, so his race against time, with the help of a no-nonsense medical intern Dr. Kate McTiernan (Ashley Judd) who escaped the "collection," is all the more desperate. The film is a spare, by-the-numbers thriller, based on the series of novels by James Patterson.
This screen adaptation of James Patterson's suspenseful bestseller is all surface gloss with little real substance. It gets by thanks to the atmospheric photography and great performances from Morgan Freeman and Ashley Judd. Freeman plays a forensic psychologist whose niece has been abducted by a serial kidnapper known as “Casanova”; Judd is the only woman to have escaped from the villain's secret lair. Can Judd overcome her drug-induced amnesia and guide Freeman to the culprit? All logic and credibility completely disappear as the conclusion nears, and the kidnapper's identity is relatively easy to guess, but it's still a compelling enough thriller, despite its many weaknesses.
Halliwell's Film Guide
Unpleasant thriller which expects its audience to get its pleasures from watching women being stalked and threatened.
Radio Times
