Kiss and Tell

This microbudget indie comedy boasts an incredibly large and varied cast and an enjoyably goofy approach to skewering film noir clichés. Such pleasure may not entirely compensate for the shoestring production values and incomprehensible plot, but they certainly make for a distinctive cinematic experience. Full of non sequitur sight gags and over-the-top character tics, filmmaker Jordan Alan's improvisational picture feels like a comedic labor of love. The overall effect is akin to Gregg Araki and John Waters channeling Raymond Chandler during an acid trip. Justine Bateman plays a violated corpse, Heather Graham portrays a strangely sapphic-obsessed homophobe, and four separate members of the Arquette clan lend their loopy talents to the proceedings. Along the way, everyone from Jill Hennessy and Rose McGowan to Lukas Haas and Pamela Gidley gets to enjoy 15 seconds of low-budget fame. With its drab cinematography and Day-Glo characters, Kiss and Tell may not be a slick marriage of form and function, but to throw such a plethora of silly ideas at the wall and make so many of them stick on such a small budget has got to be some kind of accomplishment, polished or not. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide