KISS THE GIRLS (40)

Directed by: Gary Fleder

Starring: Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd, Cary Elwes

The Pitch: A forensic psychologist on the trail of a psycho who kidnaps and kills his victims teams up with a girl who managed to escape the killer's clutches.

Theo Sez: The dull-witted progeny of SE7EN and SILENCE OF THE LAMBS, starting out in a boxing gym where our hero warns wannabe pugilists that the sport is "80% wind, 20% talent" - which also happens to be a fair (if perhaps over-generous) description of the movie : it runs around tirelessly, piling up twists and turns, without ever looking like it might connect, let alone deliver a knockout blow. It has the burnished, shadowy look that's become de rigueur in serial-killer movies - a crepuscular world of moral uncertainty, everything murky and rotten - but the evocative surface can't hide the lack of firm plotting any more than Freeman's reassuring presence can hide the idiocies behind his character, a forensic psychologist so remarkably attuned to the criminal mind he can deduce the killer's m.o. just by glancing round his house. It's the kind of film where our hero takes on the killer single-handed while the Feds sit around without a clue (SILENCE OF THE LAMBS at least sent them to the wrong house), and where police-work consists mostly of trying to pick up "vibes" from photos and crime-scenes ("What do you see?" "Maybe I'm looking too hard." "For what?" "I don't know.") ; and it's also quite unpleasant, both in its sensationalist details and in the callous way we tend to cut from (mostly female) suffering to (mostly male) discussion of that suffering in sporting terms ("Guy's a pro." "Real student of the game."). Good-looking, but basically schlock.