Text size:

Review: 'In Search of a Midnight Kiss'

BY JOHN ANDERSON | Special to Newsday

August 1, 2008

(2 1/2 STARS) (unrated)

PLOT On New Year's Eve, two might-be lovers walk the mean streets of love and L.A.

LENGTH 1:38

PLAYING AT At IFC Center and the Clearview 62nd and Broadway, Manhattan.

BOTTOM LINE Overload of charm, shortage of plot mark this cross between "Before Sunrise" and "Breakfast at Tiffany's," in which writer-director Alex Holdridge shows he knows how to get into a story, but not out.

A blind date on New Year's Eve might have been the stuff of romantic Armageddon, but director Alex Holdridge takes it into a benign minefield of character and caustic humor "In Search of a Midnight Kiss." A narrative loosey-gooseyness is one of the charms of the film, in which Wilson (Scott McNairy), an unassuming and unproduced screenwriter goes on Craigslist to find a date to kiss on New Year's Eve. What he finds is Vivian (Sarah Simmonds), who is similarly inclined, but so acerbic/sarcastic she makes Susie on "Curb Your Enthusiasm" seem like the maitre d' at Le Cirque. That Wilson doesn't run away shows how desperate and lonely he is, but over the course of their meandering through the people-free zone of downtown L.A., they come to like each other - and Wilson learns that Vivian is being pursued by a insane ex-boyfriend whose appearance pushes the story into another crazy realm entirely. Holdridge shows talent, as do his leads, but along with money for popcorn, bring patience.