Kiss of the Spider Woman Review

Jennifer Lopez and Tonatiuh Shine in an Adaptation That Recaptures a Bit of Old School Hollywood Musical Magic

By: Marc Kozak

Kiss of the Spider Woman

Jennifer Lopez and Tonatiuh Shine in an Adaptation That Recaptures a Bit of Old School Hollywood Musical Magic

By: Marc Kozak

News of a new adaptation of "Kiss of the Spider Woman" will undoubtedly cause a few arched eyebrows among fans of previous incarnations, of which there are quite a few (both fans and incarnations). The original 1976 novel by Argentine writer Manuel Puig inspired an Oscar-winning dramatic film in 1985, which in turn led to a 1993 musical that won seven Tonys. The musical featured music and lyrics from the "Cabaret" and "Chicago" team of John Kander and Fred Ebb, but despite its creative pedigree and many accolades, its generally considered a tier below those two classic works.

Even so, adapting this stage musical for the big screen makes a lot of sense (especially considering the recent success of the somewhat thematically similar "Emilia Perez" last year) and it certainly helps to put the project in the veteran hands of Bill Condon, writer of "Chicago" and "The Greatest Showman" and writer/director of "Dreamgirls." It also helps to have a famous pop superstar like Jennifer Lopez as your lead, who has somewhat miraculously never been in a straight-up musical. Throw in Diego Luna playing an alternate-reality musical version of his Andor character and a star-making performance from Tonatiuh, and you've got all the ingredients for a pretty good time.

And it is a pretty good time, mostly due to the energetic performances of the three leads. The story bounces back and forth between grim reality and a Hollywood musical fantasy, as our main characters look for a pleasant diversion from their hopeless situation. Set in early 1980s Argentina, political prisoner Valentín Arregui (Luna) sits in prison for being part of a revolutionary group attempting to overthrow the military dictatorship (which is both timely to 2025 and squarely in Luna's comfort zone from his time in the Star Wars universe). He is a grave and serious man, always with his nose in a book or political pamphlet, a brave soldier fighting an all-consuming battle. He is constantly interrogated and often beaten by his captors, who (correctly) believe that he has important top-secret information that he's attempting to communicate to his cohorts on the outside.

" It's a decently effective homage to an era, performed with gusto by all involved, but nothing really elevates itself to dazzling new heights "

The prison warden (Bruno Bichir) launches a plot to get Valentín to talk by instructing his new cellmate, a gay window dresser named Luis Molina (Tonatiuh) imprisoned on bogus charges, to get close to Valentín so he will spill his secrets. Molina doesn't particularly care about politics but is willing to play along with the warden so he can be free and get back to caring for his sick mother.

Valentín is initially hostile to his new roommate, who doesn't seem to understand the seriousness of the situation and is more concerned with decorating the prison cell. Molina attempts to engage in conversation, but Valentín is uninterested in anything but politics, disgusted by Molina's frivolous nature and inability to engage with the harshness of reality. Condon isn't interested in making these prison scenes too dark (it is a musical after all) and only makes some minor attempts at selling us on the bloody details of the real-world struggle. A revolutionary close to Valentín is killed, Valentín is beaten and poisoned, and the pair are often starved, but all of this merely serves as the launching point of the duo's shared bond.

To help distract them from their situation, Molina intermittently reenacts the entirety of his favorite movie, a hokey golden age musical about a glamorous magazine editor (Lopez) who finds herself under the spell of a mysterious spider woman. This movie-within-a-movie starts to dominate more of the story as Valentín and Molina's conditions get worse and worse, the pair finally becoming close due to their shared trauma and desire to escape. As Molina tells his story, we see how his memory of the movie looks within his imagination: the images shift to bright Technicolor, full of elaborate song and dance numbers filmed on old-school soundstages, with the original actors now being played instead by Valentín and Molina, cleaned up and dressed in immaculate outfits.

These scenes are really a showcase for Lopez, who shines as both the central figure and her own antagonist within a classic musical production. We always knew she could sing, dance, and look great in colorful costumes, so it should come as no surprise that the part fits her like a glove. It's a shame that the music, from the original songwriting duo Kander and Ebb, is largely unspectacular, full of the kind of bright and upbeat songs you'd expect coming out of the era portrayed but lacking any memorable hooks that'll have you humming after you leave the theater. It's a decently effective homage to an era, performed with gusto by all involved, but nothing really elevates itself to dazzling new heights. Even the opulence of the sets isn't quite opulent enough; everything seems to be dialed back a bit too much to truly be fabulous.

Lopez is billed as the main attraction, but the real star here is Tonatiuh, whose earnestness and romantic energy make him easy to root for. His puppy-dog enthusiasm may detract a bit from the supposed reality of the prison scenes, but you can't help but root for him to not only get out of prison but do the right thing when it comes to divulging Valentín's political secrets. The words "trans" or "nonbinary" are never used, but his story is clearly intended to speak to those audiences (Condon was asked about Trump's recent executive order declaring only two genders, responding by saying "that is a sentiment this film does not agree with"). Molina repeatedly states that he wants to be seen as a woman, just like his favorite actress from his favorite movie, an idea which Valentín initially can't handle but eventually warms up to. Slowly but surely, Valentín is able to open up to Molina, not only trusting and understanding him but genuinely loving him.

Due to all of the other events going on during the movie's two-hour runtime (which still necessitated cuts to musical numbers from the Broadway version), their burgeoning relationship and eventual emotional climax is a bit rushed, even if it's still pretty sweet in all of its melodrama. Condon is aiming to make people laugh and cry, like all of the best crowd-pleasing Hollywood musicals, and for the most part, he succeeds. The music and story aren't quite strong enough to make this one of the all-time great musicals, but it's still a campy good time. Like the two leads stuck in their prison cell, we the moviegoing audience are just as hungry for a fun and colorful distraction from the grim reality of our everyday lives, and "Kiss of the Spider Woman" delivers just that.