Let me say up front that the movie was not the worst way to spend an afternoon with a significant other but there's no way it lives up to the hype plastered on both sides of the DVD cover or in the press. Essentially, the movie falls into the standardized star crossed lovers category, with Atta playing a second generation Scott in Glasgow and Eva playing a divorcee teacher whom he falls for after running into her at his sister's school. He has strong family ties as Casim, a Pakistani Muslim that is engaged to be married to a woman he has never met as he chases his dream of becoming a night club owner. His parents have his life all mapped out for him and he is socially obligated to honor their wishes to uphold a sense of family honor. Roisin, on the other hand, has a less developed background, but comes from a strong Catholic church background and teaches at a parochial school where she is legally obligated to follow certain practices (such as living a moral Christian life; something I'd kind of expect someone in her situation to do too). When the two meet, sparks fly and they are soon jet setting off on vacation together as his father completes an addition to the family home for Casim and his mail order bride (not exactly the truth but close enough for our purposes). Being a guy, he kind of leaves the marriage out of his discussions with Roisin until well after he's bedded her several times (in a fairly explicit sex scene or two).

In the hundreds of years since old Bill Shakespeare wrote Romeo & Juliet, there have been thousands of variations on this theme (and Bill wasn't the first to write about it either) so there had to be a new angle or hook to keep the audience interested. The primary one in this case being the opposing religions more than anything else; Catholic vs. Muslim. Forgetting for the moment that she came off as something of a trophy wife for him and that the stereotypical family Casim has to break away from was so wooden and two dimensional, the unbelievably of these two (who shared no onscreen chemistry whatsoever) getting together staggered the mind. In a switch up of sorts, the main obstacles were from his side of the equation (his family would never accept a white girl into their fold he's told), perhaps to dispel the notion that the racist notions invoked here were not the usual white against black. Regardless of which direction they came from, the whole matter seemed a morality play of minor proportions and the movie appeared rushed as though major parts of the script were cut away, leaving leaps in logic that even Hollywood would cringe at.

I've seen a lot of this type of show over the years and for all the trimmings, this one offered absolutely nothing new but fans of romantic dramas might be undiscriminating enough to consider this worth renting while the majority of people will find it plodding, insipid, and a waste of time. The language barriers were even such that the default mode for the movie was to play with English subtitles but they only translated the Scottish/Irish accents, not Casim's family, depriving any possibility of truly cluing in the viewer to their point of view (and as heavy handed as it was, they were in need of connecting to the audience). In any case, I'm giving it a rating of Skip It to all but the most hard up for this type of show as it not only offers nothing new but offers up the same old stuff in a boring fashion.

Picture: A Fond Kiss was presented in non-anamorphic widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 as originally shot. The colors were accurate, the focus usually pretty good (although not always), and the shaky (at times) camerawork seemed intent on bringing a television movie of the week look to the film. In all, the visuals were not effectively employed to assist in telling the story all that often as other works by director Ken Loach have done. The DVD transfer itself was fair with few compression artifacts and little video noise but I did notice some edge enhancement (and I'm the last guy to fuss about that aspect of a DVD release) and it looked low budget overall.

Sound: The audio was presented in 2.0 Dolby Digital English with the choice of English or Spanish subtitles. The music was sparse but fitting, the vocals typically average, and the background noises left in for effect (reminding me of the socialist realism shows played on the BBC all too often). In short, the audio wasn't a selling point of the DVD but it didn't really detract much either with little use stereo overall.

Extras: The only extras included were a handful of trailers.

Final Thoughts: A Fond Kiss was more like a wishful hug and even then only to those easily impressed. While the concepts of religious tolerance, generational misunderstandings, and lovers from different backgrounds fighting the odds were full of possibilities, they ultimately imploded in this moral message movie that used little creativity to hook the viewer. As a feel good entry in numerous film festivals, I can see why it won (or was nominated for) so many awards but only because of the lowest common denominator aspect of the message (let's face it; we all want the couple to win against the overwhelming odds, even a lame couple like this one). Keep in mind that the DVD cover had to use obscure quotes to sell this one and as much as I wanted to enjoy it; I couldn't based on too many flaws to go into here.