Kiss or Kill

Australian Bill Bennett came to America and flopped with Two If by Sea, the ill-conceived caper romp starring Sandra Bullock and Denis Leary. So it's surprising to find Kiss or Kill such a well-crafted, modestly successful noir, with two lovers again on the run from the law and other unsavory characters.

Frances O'Connor, as Nikki, is a sleek femme fatale who may or may not be a sleepwalking serial killer. She and her beau, Al (a James Dean-posing Matt Day), exist as petty crooks, relying on Nikki's charms to lure married businessmen into compromising trysts, where they are subsequently drugged and robbed. A botched set-up yielding a dead mark and an incriminating videotape sends the unsettled devotees on the lam, as they scuttle across the vastness of the Australian plain, leaving a string of corpses in their wake.

The suspicion/love chemistry between Day and O'Connor, which they have honed since Love and Other Catastrophes, and Malcolm McCulloch's breathtaking cinematography go a long way toward overcoming the script's contrived bumpiness. It's not a killer of a thriller, but Kiss or Kill is an enjoyable peck on the cheek. At the Kendall Square and the West Newton.

-- Tom Meek