Dream Lover (1994)

Final Remembrance Kiss Before Strangulation

Writer/director Nicholas Kazan's suspenseful erotic thriller was his directorial debut film, about a scheming and seductive "dream lover" who went on to completely destroy a man.

Upon meeting the beautiful and sensual Lena Mathers (Madchen Amick), successful architect and recent 27 year-old divorcee Ray Reardon (James Spader) was spellbound by her beauty after sex and dream dates. A storybook romance ensued, they married - and soon had children. Afterwards, however, his mysterious wife's past became questionable and suspicious - and he realized that he had been duped by the femme fatale. She had deliberately gotten close to him to hastily marry him and acquire his money.

He accused her of stealing his house, his children, and of being a psychopath, intent on having him declared insane. After he slapped her, she was able to have him committed in an institution for six months of observation - where he faked insanity and sedation, and schemed to get revenge.

In the film's twist ending, Lena visited him at the institution for his birthday party, and he lured her away to talk alone, unseen by attendants. He told her: "This is the last time we're gonna see each other, right?" He described how he felt "alive" and "inspired" finally - and grabbed her. She threatened to scream, but he cautioned her that she wouldn't get what she wanted or deserved. He suggested that he wanted to help her by telling her the flaw in her plan, so that she wouldn't repeat her error the next time around. He first demanded a real kiss:

"Kiss me and I'll tell, only it has to be a real kiss. Something to remember."

After he kissed her, he stated: "Who are you, Lena? Who will you be when you die?" Before strangling her to death, he told her there would be no consequences for his actions. He claimed that since he had been declared insane, he couldn't be held accountable for her death:

Ray: There are no consequences - that's the flaw in your plan. I'm crazy. You've driven me crazy.
Lena: That was the whole idea.
Ray: Well, crazy people aren't responsible. Crazy people aren't legally responsible. I'm not guilty by reason of insanity. In a year, I'll be sane again and they'll have to let me out.

He strangled her, and then laid her body on the lawn.

Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994, UK)

An "I Do" Kiss for a Non-Proposal

Mike Newell's highly-successful British romantic comedy finally brought together a couple who were repeatedly meeting each other at weddings and funerals:

• Charles (Hugh Grant), an upper-class, commitment-phobic Brit
• Carrie (Andie MacDowell), an American journalist

In the film's concluding scene in a rainy London downpour after a funeral and an aborted 'fourth' marriage ceremony involving Charles, the black-eyed Britisher admitted:

"Marriage and me - we're very clearly not meant for one another."

But then he professed his total and utter love for Carrie who was "the person standing opposite me now in the rain." They spoke together as they revealed their true romantic feelings for each other. Charles made an awkward request to 'not be married' to Carrie for the rest of his life:

Carrie: "Is it still raining? I hadn't noticed."
Charles: "The truth of it is, I've loved you from the first second I met you. You're not, not suddenly gonna go away again, are you?"
Carrie: "No, I might drown, but otherwise, no."
Charles: "Okay, okay, we'll go in. But first, let me ask you one thing? Do you think, after we've dried off, after we've spent lots more time together, you might agree not to marry me? And do you think not being married to me might maybe be something you could consider doing for the rest of your life? Do you?"
Carrie (confirming his request): "I do."

Her words were accompanied by a kiss, and the camera rose into the air to capture a lightning bolt in the cloudy sky.

Legends of the Fall (1994)

Cinematographic Kisses

Against picturesque landscapes and Montana skies in this cinematographically-gorgeous sweeping, romanticized melodramatic epic from director Edward Zwick, there was a tumultuous love affair and doomed romance between:

• Tristan Ludlow (Brad Pitt), a long-haired, wild-spirited middle son
• Susannah Finncannon (Julia Ormond), beautiful, dark-eyed, and curly-haired

Unfortunately, she was the fiancee of his younger brother Samuel (Henry Thomas). The luminous Susannah, although betrothed to Samuel (and later marrying eldest brother Alfred (Aidan Quinn)), found her passions ignited with Tristan. Eventually, Susannah committed suicide over her love for Tristan.

The Mask (1994)

Kissing the Mask

This wacky, hyperactive superhero fantasy film was based upon a Dark Horse comics character.

During a physically-impossible dance sequence in the Coco Bongo nightclub, a yellow zoot-suited wolf with a green head - dubbed The Mask (Jim Carrey), held Tina Carlyle (Cameron Diaz in her feature film debut) in his arms.

He leaned her down, gave her a toothy and lascivious grin, and descended for a smooch, shot in close-up.

Her shoes literally shot off her pointed feet in response, and when he came up for air, her eyes were closed. However, she gave him an appreciative smile for the fabulous kiss.

Reality Bites (1994)

Reunion Kiss

The romance in this definitive Generation-X comedy-drama (the directorial debut feature film for Ben Stiller), set among a group of college graduates in Houston, Texas, was between:

• Lelaina Pierce (Winona Ryder), a documentary videographer working on a video of her friends and their career choices entitled "Reality Bites"
• Troy Dyer (Ethan Hawke), a perpetually-unemployed, angry slacker roommate-friend/rock musician

However, a love triangle developed with career-minded, yuppie cable TV executive Michael Grates (Ben Stiller). After selling her thoughtfully-made, non-commercialized video documentary to Michael's network - it was recut and re-edited into a stylized, market-ready Real World-like reality show montage ("That was not my work, Michael. That's not what I did. That's not what I want. It had nothing! I can't believe I trusted you!...They cut up everything that meant anything to me!"). Troy was able to reassure her and begin a relationship with her when she was disillusioned about life, and disappointed over changes made to her documentary:

Lelaina: "I was really gonna be something by the age of twenty-three."
Troy: "Honey, all you have to be by the age of twenty-three is yourself."
Lelaina: "I don't know who that is anymore."
Troy: "Well, I do. And we all love her. I love her. Uh, she breaks my heart again and again, but, but I love her."

They kissed and that night, Lelaina decided to sleep with Troy when he professed that he loved her, but by the next night, her friend Vickie (Janeane Garofalo) heard about it and told Lelaina: "Sex is the quickest way to ruin a friendship" - followed by their immediate break-up. Troy panicked from the intimacy ("I've never had sex with somebody that I loved before"), fled town, and unexpectedly had to attend his father's funeral in Chicago.

Toward the film's conclusion, the two were reconciled, reunited and made amends to each other after he returned by taxi a week later.

Reunited: Lelaina and Troy

He apologized, and again professed his love for her on the front walkway:

"I kinda got this arcane glimpse at the universe. And the best thing that I can say about that is, uh. I don't know. I- I have this, this planet of regret sitting on my shoulders. And you have no idea how much I wish that I could go back to that morning after we made love and do everything different. But I know that I can't, so I thought that I would come here and tell you something. And what I wanted to tell you was that I love you, and, uh, just wanted to make sure that that was clear so that there wasn't any confusion. Umh, so anyway, uh..."

They passionately embraced and kissed.

The Film's Ending

During the film's credits, two stereotypical characters 'Elaina' and 'Roy' (based upon Lelaina and Troy) talked about their relationship, in a film within a film (directed by crass scumbag Michael as a new show for his "In Your Face TV" network).

The Specialist (1994)

Steamy Hotel and Shower Kisses

Two of the sexiest box-office superstars of the decade were featured in this explosive, body-conscious, 'guilty pleasure' thriller-tale of murder and revenge against the underworld set against the neon backdrop of Miami. The two ultra-buffed stars were featured as:

• May Munro/Adrian Hastings (Sharon Stone), a vengeful femme fatale
• Ray Quick (Sylvester Stallone), a former CIA explosives expert

They appeared in a number of sex scenes, including a lengthy, exhibitionist shower scene that featured their taut and toned bodies - his biceps and pectorals and her breasts. The scene began in a Fontainebleu Hotel bedroom where they kissed. He let her hair down, and told the alluring female that she had a "beautiful face."

To the tune of bluesy jazz music, they undressed and caressed each other and made love on the bed - the scene then segued into the shower where they kissed under the steamy showerhead. They sank to the shower floor where they stretched out and made love.

Threesome (1994)

After Skinny-Dip Threesome Kiss

Writer-director Andrew Fleming's debut feature was an R-rated fairly crude, blatantly-stereotypical romantic sex comedy about a coed triangle. It took the unlikely premise that there was a mix-up in Freemont University (UCLA?) dorm assignments. The mistake placed three unlikely individuals together in a dorm suite:

• Alex (Lara Flynn Boyle) - female (with a gender-ambiguous name)
• Eddy Howe (Josh Charles), a studious, sensitive, intellectual junior transfer student
• Stuart (Stephen Baldwin), a boorish, Neanderthal-like, sex-crazed jock

This post-modern coming-of-age film dabbled with whether Alex's studious, reluctant, stand-offish and "sexually-ambivalent" love interest Eddy Howe was gay, while jock Stuart was ardently and sexually pursuing her (the film's plot was summed up early on by Alex: "You have the hots for me, I have the hots for him, and sooner or later he's gonna have the hots for you").

After skinny-dipping, the three-some sat on a blanket by the water's edge and began to kiss each other, again breaking a "sacred vow" that they had made to only be friends. Alex kissed Eddy while Stuart kissed her cheek, and then she switched to kiss Stuart but went back to Eddy, until they were abruptly interrupted by the arrival of a group of laughing young hikers led by a priest.

Eddy (in voice-over) described the significance of their kissing:

"Alex said that the priest symbolized God, the children - lost innocence, and the three of us - a post-modern Eve with two Adams banished from the sacred garden to wander in the wilderness for eternity because we had sinned. We had acknowledged our own nakedness and partaken of the forbidden fruit. Though it amounted to only a kiss, a touch, it changed everything. Pandora's proverbial box had been opened, but more interestingly, I'm not sure any of us wanted to close it again."