'Shall We Kiss?' review

Virginie Ledoyen and Emmanuel Mouret (Credit: Music Box Films)

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Two strangers, Émilie (Julie Gayet) and Gabriel (Michaël Cohen), discover a spark of mutual attraction despite the fact that they're both in relationships. As they agree to part ways, Gabriel ponders if they might share "a kiss of no consequence," which prompts Émilie to launch into the story of Judith (Virginie Ledoyen) and Nicolas (Emmanuel Mouret), two best friends who shared a kiss and faced major consequences.

The buzz: Writer-director-star Mouret scored a French hit with "Change of Address" but hasn't yet cracked the U.S. arthouse scene. "Kiss" might change that thanks to the presence of the lovely Ledoyen (who co-starred in "The Beach") and the backing of Music Box Films, which released last summer's surprise arthouse hit "Tell No One."

The verdict: Equal parts intriguing and infuriating, Mouret's chatty film counts Woody Allen and Eric Rohmer among its obvious influences, but "Kiss" also falls uncomfortably close to the naval-gazing, forced quirky American indies that clog up film festivals. You can all too easily imagine an unfortunately faithful remake starring Zach Braff and Zooey Deschanel. While Mouret's script is so loaded with brainy dialogue it can't help but deliver a few winning lines, his cloying sad sack star turn is far less forgivable. Ditto Judith and Nicolas' insistence on fighting a mutual attraction. Mouret seems to be striving for an amusingly insightful portrait of what happens when people's minds go to war with their physical and romantic desires, but the longer his characters hem and haw, the more annoying they are to watch. In the end it doesn't matter who ends up with whom, as long as the audience is free of all of them.

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