A fairly complex tale of betrayal and corruption, Judas Kiss also spoofs noir conventions - for instance, agent Hawkins is reading Jim Thompson’s crime novel The Killer Inside Me, and he discusses the writer’s works with Friedman during lulls in the action. A conscience-stricken Coco realizes that she may have been set up to kill Patty, and she, too, takes matters into her own hands. When Hornbeck threatens Friedman instead of assisting him, the detective suspects that this is no ordinary kidnapping for ransom, and he does his own investigation. During the crime, Coco kills Dyson’s girlfriend, Patty (Beverly Penberthy), wife of Senator Rupert Hornbeck (Hal Holbrook).Īssigned to the case are FBI Agent Sadie Hawkins (Emma Thompson) and Police Lt. A couple of loose ends are left untied at the final credits, but the film’s clear intention of providing fast-moving, uncomplicated entertainment should leave most viewers willing to cut it a little slack over any shortcomings.Young lovers and small-time New Orleans scammers Coco Chavez (Carla Gugino) and Junior Armstrong (Simon Baker-Denny) move up a few rungs when they kidnap wealthy computer mogul Ben Dyson (Greg Wise) in Sebastian Gutierrez’s neo-noir. Gugino is the hub around which the story revolves, and she proves herself more than capable, exuding an earthy sexuality while somehow managing to retain an aura of innocence about her that has the audience rooting for her throughout. The plot has some amusing twists that might seem a little far-fetched with the benefit of hindsight but, propelled at a breakneck speed, leaves the viewer with little time to pick up on the incongruities while the story is unfolding. Both of them struggle with their accents, and are the weak link in an otherwise entertaining story. Rickman plays a slovenly detective charged with finding the killers of the Senator’s wife, while Thompson is an equally scruffy FBI agent tasked with finding the kidnappers and their hostage. And we’re not talking Jason Statham type Brits, here – we’re talking Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson: two prominent members of the UK luvvy brigade. However, an innocent woman, who just happens to be the wife of a ruthless senator (Hal Holbrook) is shot during the kidnap.Īs well as the unusual mix of genres, Judas Kiss has one other major drawback that should prevent it from being successful, and that’s the casting of two British actors as a couple of New Orleans cops. Normally involved in sex scams, the couple attempt a kidnapping of a high-profile Bill Gates type, with the aid of Ruben (Til Schweiger) and Lizard (Gil Bellows). Carla Gugino provides the film’s focal point, playing Coco Chavez, a lush overtly sexual con woman in cahoots with Simon Baker’s Junior Armstrong.
It’s therefore quite a surprise that this typically noir-ish tale of greed, murder and deception works as well as it does.
Comedy-noir is something of a unique sub-genre, one which fuses together two genres that normally have no place in the same movie.
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